Atlanta Falcons star receiver Calvin Ridley is stepping away from football to focus on his mental health wellbeing, as he explains his absence on Twitter. | Dakota Williams/Atlanta Falcons
Atlanta Falcons star receiver Calvin Ridley is stepping away from football to focus on his mental health wellbeing, as he explains his absence on Twitter. | Dakota Williams/Atlanta Falcons
The Falcons played against the Carolina Panthers in their week seven game, but Calvin Ridley was absent from the team.
Explaining the reason behind his absence, he released an official statement on Twitter, according to atlantafalcons.com.
"I need to step away from football at this time and focus on my mental wellbeing," Ridley said in the statement. "This will help me be the best version of myself now and in the future."
Ridley has been inactive for the team's last two games due to "personal reasons," atlantafalcons.com said.
Ridley didn't travel with the team during their Oct. 10 trip to London to face the New York Jets.
After the loss on Sunday, NBC Sports asked quarterback Matt Ryan about his views on how the team will be dealing with the fact that Ridley will not be present. "He's a great player, and you try to utilize other guys when he's not up," Ryan said. "We still have enough players. We trust the guys that are up on game day to go make plays, and unfortunately, we just fell a little bit short."
However, it was not clear whether Ryan was aware of the statement presented by Ridley.
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