The Tennessee Titans were on bye in Week 9, but that didn’t keep wide receiver Calvin Ridley out of the news.

News 2 in Nashville first reported over the weekend that the veteran receiver was involved in an “incident” at Nashville International Airport. At the time, neither authorities nor the team offered any comment on what happened.

A to Z Sports has since learned more about the situation. According to sources, Ridley was allegedly involved in a verbal and physical altercation with an airport valet driver that resulted in an injury, and the valet sought to press assault charges with local law enforcement.

Calvin Ridley’s incident at Nashville International Airport

Sources told A to Z Sports that Ridley was trying to retrieve his vehicle from valet on Saturday, November 7th, but the valet service had lost his ticket. Ridley grew frustrated, and things escalated into a verbal back-and-forth. The valet would not hand the keys back because they could not validate matching tickets to return the vehicle.

Eventually, Ridley allegedly reached to grab his car keys out of the valet’s hand, and one of the keys (or something on the keychain) cut the valet’s hand in the process.

Airport and TSA law enforcement on site were called in, and the injured valet was then put in contact with Metro Nashville authorities. We are told the valet sought to press assault charges.

As of late Monday morning, it’s unclear whether those charges will be or have been formally filed. It also remains unclear whether they will eventually be dropped, or whether a warrant could be issued for Ridley as a result. A formal request for the incident report and any relevant updates has been filed by A to Z Sports.

Titans coach Robert Saleh addressed the situation during his Monday morning press conference, though he didn’t offer much in the way of specifics.

“From my understanding, it was a very minor miscommunication at the airport,” Saleh said. “Unfortunately, the law enforcement have it, and that’s about as far as I can go with commenting.”

When asked for clarification, Saleh said that as of early Monday morning, things between the team and Ridley were status quo.

How this could impact Tennessee at the trade deadline

The timing here matters. Ridley has six catches for 91 yards in seven games, and he has been one of the key talking points surrounding the Titans ahead of the trade deadline. Plenty of folks have pegged him as a potential target for contending teams looking to add a veteran receiver.

The NFL trade deadline is now nearly here at 3 p.m. CT Tuesday. So it’s fair to wonder how much this incident may impact Tennessee’s ability to move him.

From the Titans’ perspective, any contender that was kicking the tires on Ridley now has a legal question mark attached to him, and nobody knows how it resolves. Whether charges get formally filed, dropped, or turn into something more is an open question. That’s a tough variable for an acquiring front office to price into a deal with only hours to work with.

On the other hand, Saleh’s characterization of the incident as a minor miscommunication, plus his note that things are status quo between the team and Ridley, suggests the organization isn’t treating this as a crisis. If interested teams land in the same spot after doing their homework, the trade market for Ridley may not change much at all.