In an exclusive interview with the Establish The Pass podcast on ClutchPoints, Baltimore Ravens Pro Bowler Patrick Ricard talked about playing alongside Lamar Jackson, his evolution from college defensive lineman to one of the best fullbacks in the NFL, making fullback assists a part of fantasy football, new details about his neighbor stealing his DoorDash Outback Steakhouse order, and more.
Specifically on Jackson, Ricard discussed Lamar's evolution as a leader as well as his progress from struggling early-on in OTAs as a rookie before becoming an MVP in 2019.
“When he first got here, everybody didn’t think he is a quarterback, besides the Ravens and maybe other teams interested,” said Ricard. “Overall a lot of media and analysts for different organizations didn’t see him as a quarterback. So I think, coming in, he’s already super humbled and he just wanted to work.
“When he first got here, you saw the raw talent in the way he moved and his leadership too, like guys kind of chorale around him,” said Ricard. “He’s one of those guys where he doesn’t want to be like above anybody or a leader, he wants to be part of the team like everybody else. He just does his thing and everyone kind of respects that. I wanted to play for him, but when he first got here, he struggled just even with the play calling. I remember one time at the OTAs, he literally messed up the play call three or four times, he had to keep doing it and doing it. Just seeing that, and then, his rookie year when he got thrown in probably six weeks left in the season, because Joe [Flacco] got hurt, and he won like five of six of our games.
“Just being a natural talent, getting his scout looks, and then transitioning from year one to year two, just seeing how big of a jump he had,” said Ricard. “He was officially the starter, he was officially getting all of the reps with the ones the whole spring, all of camp, he was getting everything. Just to see him develop his passing game overall just with the offense, and also the coaching staff, Greg Roman became the offensive coordinators in his second year, so he was really able to really just blend everything together for him and the whole offense. To see him get the MVP in his second year, when two years before that everybody doubted him being a quarterback, now you see him an MVP.”
You can listen to the full podcast with Patrick Ricard on Apple, Spotify, or Google, and you can watch it on YouTube:
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