Trawick activated off injured reserve
The Ravens have activated defensive back and special teams standout Brynden Trawick from injured reserve, the team announced Tuesday.
Trawick, 30, who has been practicing with the Ravens, will take the roster spot of safety Bennett Jackson, who was waived Monday.
Trawick played 23 snaps on special teams and three on defense in the season opener before suffering an elbow injury in Week 2 against the Arizona Cardinals. He missed the next two games, and the Ravens placed him on IR on Oct. 3.
The team’s win Sunday over the San Francisco 49ers was the eighth game Trawick had missed on IR, meaning he was eligible to play as soon as Sunday’s game against the Buffalo Bills. His return should help a special teams unit that is already the NFL’s second-most efficient, according to Football Outsiders.
Trawick is the second and final player to come off IR this season for the Ravens. Rookie cornerback Iman Marshall was activated in mid-November.
Ricard gets extension
The Ravens have signed fullback/defensive lineman Patrick Ricard to a two-year contract extension through the 2021 season, the team announced Tuesday.
Ricard, 25, has become a valuable two-way player for the Ravens this season, transforming into one of the NFL’s top fullbacks. He was set to become a restricted free agent at the end of the season.
The Ravens signed Ricard, who played defensive lineman at Maine, as an undrafted free agent in 2017. He spent training camp as both a defensive lineman and fullback and made the 53-man roster.
Ricard appeared in 16 games as a rookie but played just 14% of the offensive snaps and 4% of the defensive snaps.
In December 2018, multiple racist and homophobic tweets Ricard posted five years ago surfaced. He apologized for the tweets, and teammates, as well as coach John Harbaugh, voiced their support for him.
Ricard was inactive for the team’s final six regular-season games, as well as its playoff loss to the Los Angeles Chargers, and played in just 10 games during the 2018 season.
With Greg Roman being promoted to offensive coordinator after the 2018 season and developing a new system around second-year quarterback Lamar Jackson, Ricard took on a larger role on offense.
Ricard has caught eight passes for 47 yards this season, but more importantly he has been a key lead blocker in a Ravens offense averaging a league-high 207.8 rushing yards per game.
Ricard has played a career-high 30% of the offensive snaps this season. He has also played 18% of the defensive snaps — Ricard has recorded one sack, one forced fumble and a pass deflection — but has contributed exclusively on offense in recent weeks.
After logging at least 20% of the defensive snaps in the team’s first five games, Ricard has played just one defensive snap in the last two games.
As of last week, Ricard was the leading vote-getter in fan voting among all fullbacks.