Missing out on nabbing Clowney
Three-time Pro Bowler will reportedly sign with Titans
RAVENS NOTES
Free agent Jadeveon Clowney is expected to sign with the Tennessee Titans, ESPN reported Saturday, ending the Ravens’ pursuit of the star defensive end.
ESPN reported earlier Saturday that while the New Orleans Saints and Titans had made “sizable offers” to the three-time Pro Bowl selection, the Ravens “almost got something done” a couple of weeks ago and should not be discounted.
Asked Saturday about the reports linking Clowney to the Ravens, coach John Harbaugh declined to detail the team’s level of interest. But he praised the former No. 1 overall draft pick.
“I think anybody would have an interest in a player of that caliber, certainly,” Harbaugh said in a video conference call. “Anybody across the league would, you know? He’s a great player. He’s, from all accounts, a good, hardworking guy, so it just depends on people’s situations, roster situations and cap situations to determine all those kind of things.”
Terms of Clowney’s deal were not disclosed. The Ravens have just over $16 million in salary cap space after releasing Pro Bowl safety Earl Thomas III, but that number could be manipulated with other contract maneuvers. According to salary cap database Spotrac, the Saints have under $7 million in space, while the Titans have almost $22 million.
Clowney had three sacks last season for the Seattle Seahawks, his fewest since an injury-shortened rookie season, and he has never finished with double-digit sacks in his career. But Clowney’s double-team rate was among the highest for edge rushers last season, according to ESPN, and he finished No. 7 among defensive ends and outside linebackers in the site’s pass-rush win rate, which measures how often a pass rusher is able to beat his block within 2.5 seconds.
After finishing 21st in the NFL last season in sacks (37), the Ravens are expected to have a more potent pass rush in 2020. They return Pro Bowl outside linebacker Matthew Judon, who led the team with 9½ sacks last season, and rising outside linebackers Jaylon Ferguson and Tyus Bowser. At defensive end, they added perennial Pro Bowl pick Calais Campbell and Derek Wolfe.
Expanded role
As an undrafted rookie in 2017 out of Maine, Ravens fullback Patrick Ricard can empathize with the emotions that many of the team’s players felt as Saturday’s roster cutdown deadline loomed.
“This year especially is so tough for undrafted guys,” Ricard said Friday on a virtual conference call. “You’re not given many opportunities. You didn’t have a rookie minicamp, [organized team activities] or regular minicamp, so this year is incredibly difficult. … I remember when I was undrafted, it was just constantly looking at the clock because 4 p.m.’s the deadline and you’re just thinking, ‘Are they going to come and get me?’”
Ricard worked his way onto the 53-man roster as a rare two-way player before establishing himself as a Pro Bowl fullback last season on the team’s record-setting offense. The evolution of the player affectionately known as “Project Pat” has taken another turn, as Ravens decision-makers mull an expanded tight end role for the 26-year-old.
“[Patrick Ricard] has grown,” coach John Harbaugh said Wednesday. “He played some tight end stuff last year, so I think he keeps expanding his in-line stuff, his motion, lining up even as a wide receiver out there. He’s been in all those types of situations in training camp — just like all of our guys do. Really nowadays, if you’re talking to a coach, they’ll tell you, ‘The tight end, the H-back, the U-back, the fullback, those guys become more interchangeable than ever.’”
Ricard said he shed a bit of weight from his 300-pound frame, dropping to around 290, and feels leaner and quicker, which could assist him if he’s relied upon more in the passing game.
The Ravens elected to keep just two true tights ends on their initial 53-man roster. Expanded practice squads and new gameweek roster rules now open the opportunity to use Ricard in a hybrid role.
“If you look at year’s past, every year my role has expanded in different ways,” Ricard said. “All I can do is come here and whatever my coaches ask me to do, I’m going to do it the best I can. I can’t really go into specifics about exactly what I’m doing. I think you’re just going to have wait until Week 1 for everyone to see.”
Extra points
■ The Ravens have partnered with Great 8s Memorabilia and Thread Level Midnight for a Mo Gaba tribute titled “Mo’s Rows.” The memorabilia and apparel stores have been given Section 146 at M&T Bank Stadium to sell cutouts of Gaba for the 2020 season. Money used to purchase a cutout will go toward various charities across Maryland. Gaba, a Ravens and Orioles superfan, died in July after a long battle with cancer.
■ Greg Montgomery, an All-Pro punter who spent nine years in the NFL with the Ravens, Houston Oilers and Detroit Lions, has died. He was 55. Montgomery died Aug. 23, according to an obituary posted by Metcalf & Jonkhoff Funeral Service in Grand Rapids. Montgomery was an All-Pro in 1993 for the Oilers, and that was one of three times he led the NFL in punting. He finished his career with a 43.6-yard average in 142 games. He finished his career with Ravens in 1996 and 1997.