The Baltimore Ravens will be without a couple of key offensive pieces in Week 1.
On Friday, they ruled out both tight end Isaiah Likely and fullback Patrick Ricard for their Sunday night opener against the Buffalo Bills.
This was the expectation for Likely.
On Wednesday, NFL Network's Ian Rapoport reported that Likely "is not expected to play" against the Bills. Likely is recovering from a broken bone in his foot.
"Likely underwent surgery in late July and is healing as expected," Rapoport writes. "He should be ready early in the season."
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Likely, a fourth-round pick in 2022, is coming off his best NFL season.
He played in 16 games in 2024 and caught 42 passes for 477 yards and six touchdowns.
In his career, he has 14 TD catches despite being the TE2 for the majority of his time in Baltimore.
The Ravens will still have a strong tight end presence against the Bills in the form of veteran Mark Andrews. Andrews will be looking for some redemption against Buffalo. When these teams met in the playoffs, Andrews had a critical drop that essentially lost the game for Baltimore.
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Missing out on the fullback Ricard is a different situation. Baltimore doesn't really have a direct replacement for Ricard.
The Ravens will likely just have to take their fullback formations out of action.
Their other option is to promote practice squad fullback Lucas Scott to the active roster. That decision, if it's coming, would be made official closer to gameday.
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