Patrick Ricard back from PUP, Ravens plan to use him in the offensive line

Great news on the injury front came from inside the Baltimore Ravens' headquarters on Monday as the team activated fullback Patrick Ricard after he missed time this offeson recovering from injury.

Per Jamison Hensley of ESPN, first reporting the news before the Flock took to the fields of the Under Armour Performance Center in Owings Mills, the former Pro Bowl fullback suited up for practice after undergoing "offseason hip surgery" and sitting on the PUP missing the first 10 practices of training camp.

Ricard indeed returned to the field to train with the rest of his teammates later, with Hensley and other multiple reporters echoing the news and dropping some nuggets of information about the involvement of the fullback in different drills.

According to a tweet published by Hensley after Monday's session, Ricard "worked with the offensive line in his first practice," which was later confirmed by Head Coach John Harbaugh.

Harbaugh was asked about Ricard's role in the Ravens offense under new OC Todd Monken, and if we should expect him to turn into a fullback/offensive-lineman hybrid next season.

"It’s just a multiple-role kind of thing," Harbaugh said. Pat is quite an athlete. He can do a lot of different things and maybe we expand his role just a little bit for a little bit of time here and see how he does."

With Ricard in the PUP, Ben Mason had been taking reps with the offense in his FB/blocking role for the first 10 practices of the Ravens training camp.

We'll have to keep an eye on how the situation and the battle between Ricard and Mason evolves, as Monken might opt for one or the other instead of adding both to the 53-man roster to be named later this month.

Already boasting three tight ends and most probably four running backs, things are getting a bit crowded in the skill-position chart of the Ravens with a crucial decision to make when it comes to the final roster. If Ricard can take on a hybrid RB/FB/OL role, though, you can pencil him in as a lock to make the cut.

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