Who Should I Start? Donald Parham or Giovanni Ricci

Friday, February 21, 9:45 PM

The Pittsburgh Steelers announced on Friday that they signed free-agent tight end Donald Parham Jr. to an undisclosed one-year deal. Parham will head to the AFC North after catching 67 of his 100 targets for 764 yards and 11 total touchdowns in 47 games (23 starts) over his four seasons with the Los Angeles Chargers after debuting in 2020. The 27-year-old tight end went undrafted out of Stetson College in 2019. His best season was in 2023 with the Bolts, when he caught 27 of his 41 targets for 285 yards and four touchdowns across 14 regular-season games (eight starts). L.A. released him last August and he latched on with the Denver Broncos' practice squad, but he didn't appear in an NFL game. At 6-foot-8, Parham was mostly a red-zone weapon for the Bolts. He'll attempt to win a roster spot with Pittsburgh out of training camp but can be ignored in most fantasy leagues.

Monday, February 3, 7:02 PM

The New England Patriots signed free-agent tight end Giovanni Ricci (knee) to a Reserve/Futures deal on Monday. Ricci was on the Cleveland Browns' practice squad in 2024 but never was active for a regular-season game and was cut in August due to a knee injury. The 28-year-old former undrafted free agent out of Western Michigan made his NFL debut in 2021 with the Carolina Panthers, with all 36 of his career games coming with Carolina. In three NFL seasons, Ricci has caught only nine of 12 targets for 102 yards and no touchdowns with the Panthers. Ricci is more of a blocker than a pass-catcher and will now represent tight end depth for the Patriots throughout the offseason and into training camp this summer. The most likely scenario is that he'll effective serve as a fullback for new Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels.