As if announcing one roster move is just not newsworthy enough for a single afternoon, the Ravens announced a second one. The Baltimore Ravens announced earlier on Twitter that the organization activated defensive back and special teams ace, Brynden Trawick, from the injured reserve. The move surprised no one, as the Ravens cut defensive back and special teams player Bennett Jackson yesterday in anticipation of Trawick’s return. The surprising news of the day came just eleven minutes after the first story broke. The Ravens announced that the organization agreed to a contract extension with the fullback and defensive lineman, Patrick Ricard.

The financial details of the contract are not yet known at the time of this writing. The only information known about Ricard’s extension is that it gives the young ironman athlete’s contract two additional years. Ricard will be on Baltimore’s books throughout the 2021 season. While the timing is surprising, the extension itself should not be. Patrick Ricard is highly valued in Baltimore. According to the count of ESPN’s Field Yates, Ricard is the only player in the National Football League to play at least 25 snaps on offense and defense this season. He has 231 offensive snaps, 127 defensive, and 78 special teams snaps. Effectively, Ricard is a swiss army knife that the Ravens can use at any and all points in the game.

After each and every contract extension this year, I continue to acknowledge that we are witnessing first-year General Manager, Eric DeCosta, develop his own personal philosophy. It has been obvious for a while, but it is even more apparent today that Eric DeCosta’s plan is to lock down talent, especially the young ones, before that talent can test the market. Without naming all of DeCosta’s moves, he has demonstrated this strategy by extending Tavon Young, Willie Snead, and now Patrick Ricard. The Ravens have plenty of salary-cap space available in the post-Flacco era, but DeCosta is showing great prudence in these moves. He would rather sign these players to comfortable, yet not league-high contracts now in order to prevent them from walking in the future.

Update:

Ian Rapoport of the NFL Network, the deal is worth $7.3 million over the two years.

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