Well, it was fun while it lasted.
It appears as though Baltimore Ravens FB Patrick Ricard was no better along the offensive line than his Pittsburgh Steelers OL Kendrick Green, with whom the team has been experimenting with playing fullback.
Returning from the Active/Physically Unable to Perform List recently, Ricard spent his first week of practice lining up with the offensive line, seemingly in response to offensive coordinator Todd Monken’s new offense in which the fullback position is expected to be less prominent. A week later, he is done with that—at least for now.
“I think he wanted to get a feel for some of those blocks”, Ravens head coach John Harbaugh said on Tuesday, via the team’s website. “But it’s late in camp, and he came to me the other day and said, ‘Hey, I want to get back in there, where I know what I’m doing. And maybe this is something for next year’. So, he’s back at fullback and tight end”.
The door then isn’t entirely shut on Ricard working with the offensive line, though it is on hiatus. One of the top fullbacks in the NFL, he logged a whopping 698 snaps during the 2022 season—about as many snaps as the Steelers have utilized a fullback in the past decade, it seems.
Not that all of those snaps came at fullback—indeed, he has never been just a fullback. He actually played more on the defensive line earlier in his career with the Ravens, as did Green during his high school football career (in addition to fullback; he did not pick up the offensive line until college).
In actuality, the Ravens have made wide use of Ricard’s skill set. Close to half of his playing time was as an in-line blocker. He also received considerable playing time in the slot, with backfield snaps representing only about a quarter of his playing time in 2022—still more than the Steelers use their fullbacks in total.
Ricard, 29, is in the second year of a three-year, $11.4 million contract, accounting for the second-largest contract at the position behind the San Francisco 49ers’ Kyle Juszczyk, who himself is a former Raven. The only other fullback earning an average of $3 million per season or greater is the Miami Dolphins’ Alec Ingold, according to Over the Cap.
For a team like Baltimore, it is money well spent, at least historically, because they have found ways to use Ricard. Over the past three seasons, he has logged 1,655 offensive snaps, and still averages about 70 snaps on special teams per season.
In other words, he doesn’t necessarily need to wear as many hats as possible to justify his roster spot—as the Steelers seem to feel Green might. At least, that is how it has worked up to this point. That’s not as clear in 2023 given the changes expected under Monken, with a heavier emphasis on the passing game with the likes of Odell Beckham Jr., Zay Jones, and Rashod Bateman at wide receiver.
