Hassan Ridgeway Playing in a Joe Blanton Kind of Shadow

The Eagles DT could easily get overlooked playing on a line with Fletcher Cox, Malik Jackson, and Javon Hargrave, the way Blanton did when he pitched with the Phillies' four aces

PHILADELPHIA – Hassan Ridgeway is the Eagles’ version of Joe Blanton.

Remember Blanton? There were the Phillies’ four aces – Roy Halladay, Cliff Lee, Cole Hamels, and Roy Oswalt – and then there was Blanton, the fifth wheel in a pitching rotation built for cruising at the start of last decade.

Well, look at the three aces on the Eagles’ defensive line – Fletcher Cox, Malik Jackson, and Javon Hargrave. That is some kind of pedigree, also some kind of payroll eaters.

Cox counts $22.8 million against this year’s salary cap. Meanwhile, Jackson and Hargrave are more cap-friendly in 2020, with Jackson’s hit at $4.6M and Hargrave’s at $3.4, but in 2021 they jump to $13.6M and $15.2M, respectively.

But don’t get bogged down in the minutia of millions. The point is, like Blanton, it can be easy to get overshadowed amid that kind of bright-light talent.

Frankly, Ridgeway didn’t sound like he cared all that much about possibly being overlooked when asked about it after Tuesday’s practice.

“I don’t mind at all,” he said. “I try to let my play speak for me, so if people want to forget, I just want to show them who I am when I play against them. I want to go out there and prove there is no drop-off when Fletch comes off the field, or Malik, Hargrave, when anybody comes off it’s the same thing every single time, you’re getting a good defensive tackle going against you every play.”

Ridgeway’s debut season with the Eagles in 2019 ended sooner than it should have, when he was placed on Injured Reserve after the Eagles’ loss to the Cowboys on Oct 20. 

It was a move the Eagles felt they needed to make because they were being hit hard by injury along the defensive line, so, even though Ridgeway was able to recover in a relatively short period of time and did not have to miss the season, miss the season he did.

Ridgeway tiptoed around how he felt about the IR move when asked on Tuesday about it.

Whatever his feelings, it didn’t prevent him from returning to the Eagles on a one-year deal with a base salary of $910,000. It could prove to be a bargain for the player the Eagles acquired from the Indianapolis Colts on April 26, 2019, for a seventh-round draft pick.

When Ridgeway decided to return, he knew he would have Cox and Jackson to learn from, but then the Eagles signed Hargrave in free agency from the Steelers. That’s a lot of knowledge to be gained for a still just 25-year-old.

“It’s a huge competition at every single spot,” said Ridgeway. “You have to bring you’re ‘A’ game every single day, so having people like that right next to you in the room, all the positions D-end and D-tackle, it’s a huge help to make sure you push yourself every day.”

Until maybe one day, you push yourself right out of the shadows, the way Blanton did. Sort of.

Get the latest Eagles news by joining the community. Click "Follow" at the top right of EagleMaven page. Mobile users click the notification bell. And please follow me on Twitter @kracze.