{"id":752142,"date":"2026-02-14T18:12:16","date_gmt":"2026-02-14T18:12:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/752142\/"},"modified":"2026-02-14T18:12:16","modified_gmt":"2026-02-14T18:12:16","slug":"ny-giants-nfl-free-agency-2026-could-the-giants-go-big-at-fullback","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/752142\/","title":{"rendered":"NY Giants NFL free agency 2026: Could the Giants go BIG at fullback?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">We don\u2019t know at this point in time if New York Giants offensive coordinator Matt Nagy will want to include a fullback in his offense. It is a pretty safe bet, though, that head coach John Harbaugh would prefer to have one.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">A quick check of the 53-man rosters over his 18 years as head coach of the Baltimore Ravens shows only two seasons \u2014 2017 and 2018 \u2014 during which Baltimore did not carry a true fullback on its roster.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">If the Giants want a fullback they could, theoretically, turn inward and convert 280-pound defensive tackle Elijah Chatman into a full-time player at that position. Chatman did dabble at fullback in 2025, playing three snaps on offense.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Or, the Giants could make about as big a splash as you can make in the modern NFL when you are signing a fullback by bringing 300-pound Patrick Ricard to New Jersey from the Ravens.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Ricard, entering his age 32 season, played both fullback and defensive tackle for Baltimore in his first three seasons. He has been a full-time fullback since 2020.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Ricard is a one-time First-Team All-Pro (2024), a two-time Second-Team All-Pro, and a six-time Pro Bowl selection.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Nikhil Mehta of SB Nation\u2019s Ravens website, <a href=\"http:\/\/baltimorebeatdown.com\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Baltimore Beatdown<\/a>, does not believe Ricard will stay in Baltimore.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">\u201cI think Ricard probably leaves,\u201d Mehta said. \u201cThere were rumors that he was disappointed with the smaller contract he had to take in 2025. Ben Johnson\u2019s scheme [where offensive coordinator Declan Doyle came from] doesn\u2019t feature a fullback, either, so it does not seem like he would have a place in the Ravens\u2019 new offense.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Signing someone like Ricard would be a good way for Harbaugh to send a message regarding the type of team he wants the Giants to be. With eight years as a player for Harbaugh under his belt, Ricard might also be one of those players who can help implement the culture Harbaugh wants in the locker room.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Ricard made $2.87 million for Baltimore last season, down from the $4.1 million he earned in 2024.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Would you like to see Ricard leading Giants\u2019 running backs through holes next season? Let us know in the comments.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"We don\u2019t know at this point in time if New York Giants offensive coordinator Matt Nagy will want&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":752143,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2052],"tags":[184,117,2282,7,7558,6,169],"class_list":{"0":"post-752142","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-baltimore-ravens","8":"tag-baltimore","9":"tag-baltimore-ravens","10":"tag-baltimoreravens","11":"tag-football","12":"tag-new-york-giants-free-agency","13":"tag-nfl","14":"tag-ravens"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/752142","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=752142"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/752142\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/752143"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=752142"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=752142"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=752142"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}