Who Should I Start? Giovanni Ricci or Elijah Higgins

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.

Saturday, November 15, 6:17 PM

Arizona Cardinals tight end Elijah Higgins has seen an increased role on offense over the last few weeks. Over the last two games, Higgins has hauled in five of his six targets for 49 yards. Despite that, he remains the backup to Trey McBride, who is one of the best tight ends in the league. It's possible that Higgins does see a slightly larger workload with Marvin Harrison Jr. (appendix) out in Week 11. Normally, Higgins has been playing about 40 percent of the offensive snaps. There's a chance that does increase, but probably not by too much. Higgins is a desperation deep league option for the Week 11 matchup against the San Francisco 49ers.