Ray Rice Fantasy News

Darren McFadden is "making cuts at full speed"
Monday, May 14, 2012, 2:32am

Running back Darren McFadden is on track to make a successful return to the field after missing the final nine games last season with a severely sprained foot.

That’s according to running backs coach Kelly Skipper, who offered the most in depth report on McFadden’s health since the injury occurred.

“The thing about Darren is, he didn’t have any major surgeries, so he’s able to come back her healthy and he’s playing at a high level right now and it’s offseason,” Skipper said. “So, that’s a good thing. He didn’t have surgery so he’s going to be off the whole spring. Nah, that’s not the case. He’s out here. You would never know he got hurt. He’s making cuts at full speed, everything.”

Monday, April 16, 2012, 5:38am

Ravens not close to a deal with either QB Joe Flacco or RB Ray Rice. Rice has no plans to report without a new deal. Nothing has changed.

Report: Wes Welker will "most likely play" on franchise tag
Friday, April 13, 2012, 7:08pm

Drew Brees, Wes Welker, Dwayne Bowe, Ray Rice and Matt Forte are among the franchised stars who, barring a major shift in negotiations, won't be present when their teams open offseason work, according to league sources. It would take an unforeseen degree of progress in talks over the weekend to get any of them signed long-term -- a scenario that is highly unlikely at this point.

Brees and the New Orleans Saints, for instance, have been at loggerheads, roughly $5 million per season apart on a long-term deal, according to league sources. Welker and the New England Patriots have also made little progress; a source with knowledge of those conversations believes Welker will most likely play this season on the franchise tag. Running backs especially face a tricky situation. The franchise-tag value for them is around $7 million, a bargain for their employers. Teams could place the franchise tag on players like Rice and Forte in back-to-back seasons, securing their services from 2012 through 2013 at a total cost of around $17 million.

Friday, April 6, 2012, 8:57pm

At a time when the Ravens have signed cornerback Lardarius Webb to a long-term deal and, according to G.M. Ozzie Newsome, are possibly heading in that direction with running back Ray Rice, a source with knowledge of the situation tells PFT that no progress is being made between the Ravens and quarterback Joe Flacco.

Earlier this week, G.M. Ozzie Newsome said that the team is making progress with Rice, whose rookie contract has expired and who has not signed the franchise tender. Newsome also said that talks are ongoing with Flacco, but we’re told those talks are going nowhere.

Flacco has one year left on his rookie deal. “[I]t either gets done or it doesn’t,” Flacco recently said. “And I’m not really too involved in the process besides letting him know how I feel and letting him take care of that and letting the Baltimore Ravens take care of their side. And that’s really my involvement. It’s not about the money, it’s about what you as a player feel that you deserve. And at the end of the day, they’ll take care of it and I’ll be waiting.”

Ray Rice may skip OTAs
Tuesday, April 3, 2012, 7:55pm

Although Baltimore Ravens Pro Bowl running back Ray Rice indicated today during the unveiling of the new Nike uniforms that he looks forward to attending offseason workouts, sources close to the situation stressed that Rice won't be reporting until he has a new contract.

Rice has been designated as the Ravens' franchise player, at a cost of $7.742 million.

Under NFL rules governing franchise players, Rice doesn't have to attend offseason activities, training camp or games until he signs his one-year tender.

"I look forward to being there," Rice told the Ravens' official website when asked today in New York about whether he'll attend offseason workouts.

Rice has been consistent in taking the high road when it comes to the negotiations, but sources emphasized that the versatile star runner has no plans to attend offseason workouts until a contract has been finalized.

Wednesday, March 28, 2012, 4:47pm

Running back LeGarrette Blount has a 'tons of ability,' according to Bucs coach Greg Schiano. But his inability to protect the football could force the team to look elsewhere for ball carriers.

Blount fumbled five times last season, losing three.

"I think LeGarrette has tons of ability,'' Schiano said Wednesday at the NFL owners meetings. "No one who touches the football will get touches if they don't protect the football. That is one of our core covenants. The ball. It's so important, they named the game after it. So, we make a big deal about that thing.''

Schiano said repeatedly that he wants the Bucs to run the football and use play action passes to take shots downfield. He credited running back Ray Rice with spearheading the turnaround at Rutgers and described the Ravens running back as a 'bell cow.'

The Bucs, who own the No. 5 overall pick, may have an opportunity to draft Alabama running back Trent Richardson, whom Schiano described as 'a special talent.'

By comparison, one of Richardson's strengths is ball security. Richardson lost only one fumble in 614 career touches. In fact, that turnover came in the sixth game of his freshman season, which means he went 550 touches without a fumble.

"I've studied a lot of tape on him, he's a very talented guy,'' Schiano said of Richardson. "I met him briefly, I look forward to spending more quality time with him here before the draft. You can't argue with production. One of the things I think you really have to look at, it doesn't guarantee anything, but when you're looking at that running back making the jump from high school to college or college to the National Football League, one of the real barometers is production. Was he able to be consistently productive and Trent has done it in what's arguably the toughest league in college football. So he's a special talent.''

Ravens franchise Ray Rice
Friday, March 2, 2012, 7:39pm

Ray Rice has been offered the franchise tag by the Baltimore Ravens.

Rice apparently wants an Adrian Peterson type contract, and considering Peterson signed a seven-year deal worth $100 million before last season, Baltimore doesn’t necessarily agree with Rice’s assessment of his worth. As CBSSports.com’s Will Brinson wrote, a deal that mirrors Carolina’s DeAngelo Williams’ five-year, $43 million deal is probably more appropriate. Assuming he signs the tag, Rice will make about $7.7 million for 2012.

“As we have in the past, placing the franchise designation on a player allows us to keep negotiating on a long-term contract,” Ravens general manager Ozzie Newsome said in a statement. “Our goal is to keep Ray Rice a Raven. We’ve done this with other outstanding players through our history, including Haloti Ngata a year ago.”

Ricky Williams informs Ravens he is retiring
Tuesday, February 7, 2012, 6:26pm

Ricky Williams has informed Ravens officials he's retiring.

Saturday, November 26, 2011, 3:31pm

Overall, the Baltimore Ravens reported no new injuries following Thursday night's victory over the San Francisco 49ers. But running back Ray Rice had his hand and thumb taped up after the game.

Friday, November 18, 2011, 3:10pm

Under serious scrutiny from critics after orchestrating a play sheet where star running back Ray Rice was barely involved Sunday, Baltimore Ravens offensive coordinator Cam Cameron insists that having Rice be a focal point of the offense remains a major priority.

"There's nobody that wants to get Ray the ball more than I do or we do as a staff," Cameron said. "Sometimes, circumstances dictate. Now, you are trying to throw it to a guy instead of handing it to him. That has its challenges.

"By the end of this season, he needs to be a guy who is getting the ball as much or more than anybody in the league. That gives us the best chance to win."

However, there seems to be a disconnect between those words and how the offense is run considering that Rice only had 13 touches in a loss to the Seattle Seahawks to equal his season-low established earlier this season in a glaringly similar defeat to the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Thursday, November 17, 2011, 6:05pm

A diplomatic Ray Rice made his point without escalating a controversy triggered by his lack of involvement during the Baltimore Ravens' embarrassing loss to the Seattle Seahawks.

Rice broke his silence Wednesday after politely declining interview requests after a game for the first time because of his concern that he would say something out of frustration he would later regret.

Although the former Pro Bowl running back obviously wasn't happy with only touching the football 13 times during a 22-17 loss with only one of his five carries for 27 yards in the second half, a well-prepared Rice said he understood the reasons why he wasn't utilized much with the Ravens trailing on the scoreboard.

"I'm never going to be the guy that talks about touches, but obviously we know five carries is not going to cut it," said Rice while sporting the new Baltimore Orioles' cap. "I know five carries is not going to do us any justice, but we found ourselves so deep in the situation that we had to climb our way out. We were looking for answers. Whether it was running or passing, we have to find our way out of a situation.

"I always spoke about not getting down in a situation like that to where you have to be in a two-minute offense. The two-minute offense is great, but when you have to take your fullback [Vonta Leach] off the field, who is a Pro Bowl fullback, and not lead him on people, that leads to trouble."

Sunday, September 4, 2011, 12:51pm

Veteran running back Ricky Williams has found a home with the Baltimore Ravens. The coaches there love him because he’s been very professional and quiet. He’s been the first player out at practice every day, and he came to work in fantastic shape.

What’s more - his pass protection has been outstanding. Williams looks like an ideal role player who can get five to 10 carries a game, including some short yardage work. Eventually, though, he could be pushed by promising rookie Anthony Allen.

Tweaked hamstring for Houston RB Arian Foster
Sunday, August 28, 2011, 3:21am

Houston Texans head coach Gary Kubiak said running back Arian Foster "tweaked his hamstring" during Saturday's game in San Francisco against the 49ers.

"We have 15 days, so we’ll just keep our fingers crossed that he recovers," Kubiak said. "We don’t think it’s anything worse than what we were dealing with before. I’m just hoping he’ll be ready for opening day."

Wednesday, August 24, 2011, 5:18pm

Offensive Coordinator Cam Cameron said that the plan for now is to allow Ray Rice to keep running until he gets tired. When that happens, he’s supposed to let Cameron know and Ricky Williams will enter the game.

“We will leave a lot of it up to Ray Rice and we will be smart too because we want Ray full speed at the end of games,” Cameron said.

Wednesday, August 17, 2011, 5:01pm

The Baltimore Ravens’ offensive line is off to a shaky start.

Six-time Pro Bowl center Matt Birk had surgery on his left knee and his status is in doubt. Offensive guard Marshal Yanda is sidelined with back spasms.

Offensive tackles Michael Oher, Oniel Cousins and rookie Jah Reid allowed six sacks during a 13-6 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles to open the preseason.

Can the Ravens rebound and have an effective line?

“We’re going to try to be,” offensive coordinator Cam Cameron said. “We really don’t know yet. We are going to know more in the next two or three weeks.”