BIOGRAPHY
John Ridgeway was born May 7, 1999, in Bloomington, Illinois. He is a defensive tackle in the NFL.
He began his collegiate career at Illinois State, where he redshirted as a true freshman. During his redshirt season, he focused on the defensive tackle position after initially being recruited to play on the offensive line. Ridgeway was named to the Missouri Valley Football Conference (MVFC) All-Newcomer team as a redshirt freshman after recording 30 tackles with one sack. He had 22 tackles with three tackles for loss and was named first-team All-MVFC in his redshirt junior season, which was shortened and played in the spring of 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States. After the season, Ridgeway entered the transfer portal. He committed to transfer to Arkansas over offers from Indiana, Texas, Penn State, Iowa, Arizona State, Tennessee, Michigan, and USC. Ridgeway was named the Razorback's starting nose guard going into the 2021 season but missed the season opener due to an appendectomy. He finished the season with 39 tackles, two sacks, and four tackles for loss. After the end of the season, Ridgeway declared that he would be entering the 2022 NFL Draft.
In the 2022 NFL Draft, John Ridgeway was taken 178th by the Dallas Cowboys.
Ridgeway was claimed off waivers by the Washington Commanders on September 19, 2022. In the Week 9 loss to the Minnesota Vikings, Ridgeway made a critical mistake for illegal contact with the long snapper on the Vikings' field goal attempt on fourth down with less than two minutes remaining in the game. The Commanders were flagged with an unnecessary roughness penalty giving the Vikings another first down, which allowed them to run out the clock before scoring a field goal and ending the game at a final score of 20-17. The following week, he forced a fumble out of tight end Dallas Goedert which was recovered by linebacker Jamin Davis ultimately helping to beat the then undefeated Philadelphia Eagles.
