Who Should I Start? Giovanni Ricci or Brady Russell

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.

Thursday, April 10, 12:19 AM

Exclusive-rights free-agent tight end Brady Russell officially signed his tender on Wednesday to return to the Seattle Seahawks for the 2025 season, according to Seahawks.com's John Boyle. Russell will return for his third year with the team after not catching any passes as a tight end in his first two years with the team. Instead, the 26-year-old has appeared exclusively on special teams and has recorded 17 tackles (11 solo) in 26 games played (zero starts) since debuting in 2023. Russell originally went undrafted out of the University of Colorado before latching on with the Seahawks. He will continue to serve as more of a special-teams asset for Seattle heading into training camp this summer. Russel is nowhere near the fantasy radar.