Ravens Pat Ricard Fully Focused On Playing Offense

OWINGS MILLS, Md. — Pat Ricard is a two-time Pro Bowler that has made an impact on the defensive line, while also contributing as a fullback and tight end.

This season, however, Ricard is fully focused on helping the offense and putting his days as a defender behind him.

“I think mentality … Defense is physical, it’s relentless, it’s all those things – being aggressive," Ricard said. "I think I still have that mentality, but overall, my approach is straight offense now. I’m in the offensive room, 100%. I’m with the tight ends, fullbacks – different things like that. So, I’m 100% with the offense, and it’s improved my game.

"It’s gotten me more mentally in the playbook, with the coaching staff, with the players on the team, and I’m happy with it. I think I’ve gotten better as a player; I’ve improved in areas that maybe I didn’t get to, because I was still playing defense, and [I’ve had] a lot of fun doing it.”

Last season, Ricard earned his second-straight Pro Bowl selection, appeared in 15 games (10 starts) at fullback, helping block for the NFL’s No. 1 rushing attack (191.9 ypg), which produced the third-most yards (3,071) ever in a 16-game NFL season.

Ricard also played tight end and caught nine passes for 45 yards with a touchdown. He continues to make strides as a pass-catcher.

"I think, just overall, the routes," Ricard said. "I played defense in college, so coming here, I never really ran routes. So, now I’ve just been slowly adding more routes to my repertoire, and I think overall, I’ve been just getting better each and every day.”

The Ravens have a big decision to make on Ricard, who is a free agent after this season.

Raven and current 49er Kyle Juszczyk is the highest-paid fullback at $5.4 million per year, Ricard has an argument that he has the same value. The question is whether the Ravens can afford Ricard with other potential deals with quarterback Lamar Jackson and tight-end Mark Andrews.

Baltimore selected Michigan fullback Ben Mason in the fifth round of this year's draft and he has the same type of versatility as Ricard, but he needs more time to develop.

"That’s why I have an agent, right?" Ricard said. "They deal with that. I’m just trying to come out here and just try to improve myself, improve the team and just try to get better.”