Who Should I Start? Giovanni Ricci or Robbie Ouzts

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.

Sunday, May 4, 1:08 PM

The Seattle Seahawks are converting rookie fifth-round tight end Robbie Ouzts to a 274-pound fullback as part of their vision for a more physical running game under new offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak, according to ESPN's Brady Henderson. Ouzts will be competing with Brady Russell, who is also making the transition from tight end to fullback this offseason. He worked mostly as a blocker during his four-year college career at Alabama, so it should be a pretty natural transition for Ouzts in Seattle. Ouzts obviously won't be on the fantasy radar at all as a blocker if he's on the field regularly, but this news is good news for the Seahawks' ground attack and starting running back Kenneth Walker III and backup Zach Charbonnet. In 17 games last year, Seattle averaged just 95.7 rushing yards per game, which ranked as the fifth-fewest in the NFL.