Q. Patrick, I wanted to ask you a little bit about your earlier career. You started off as a defensive player. You converted over to fullback, and I just want to get an idea, because you don't see very many pure fullbacks these days in the NFL. What did you pick up from playing defense that you were able to successfully transition over to playing fullback?
PATRICK RICARD: I love that question. I think it's the physical part of defense. Defense, you're always on the attack. You're always trying to be as physical as you can. You have to beat up offensive linemen. You have to chase down a quarterback. You have to do all these things to where for me playing fullback I think it translated really well, on top of also understanding how defenses work, how a defensive line, how a front plays, how their gaps sound, how they blitz, how they pass rush, and I think I was able to take all those things that I learned from playing defense and use it in my game on offense.
And I think that helped me really understand and really learn, because I didn't play offense in college. So for me to try to block and play in an offense against the best in the world, it was a huge learning curve, and I was just thankful for great coaches to help me, and the coaches here now, Coach Harbaugh and Coach Roman. So I'm just grateful to be back with them again and continue my journey with them.
Q. Are you kind of surprised that fullback is kind of -- I don't want to say it's been extinct, obviously, because there are still some pure fullbacks in the NFL. But are you surprised that the game has kind of gravitated away from the position, and do you see it making more of a comeback?
PATRICK RICARD: I think it's anything with football. Football goes through different phases. If anything, I think nowadays you're starting to see a little bit I think of resurgence. And I think on top of it as well, it's hard to find good fullbacks. It's a very kind of thoughtless -- I mean selfless -- that's the word I'm looking for -- position to where it takes the right kind of guy to find. And I'm just happy to be the guy that's set the standard and hopefully wanting more teams to use.
If you look at this past Super Bowl, the Seahawks and the Patriots, they were both using fullbacks. So I think -- personally I think every team should be using them. I don't know why you wouldn't want to use that. But I'm going to continue to try to set the standard. I'm going to continue to show teams why they should be using them.
Q. Can you tell us about your process? I gather you probably had your last head coach and your last offensive coordinator fighting for your services. So what was that decision like?
PATRICK RICARD: Yeah. I mean, I just want to start off with saying I'm just very grateful for Coach Harbaugh. I mean, he's been in my corner my whole career. He's believed in me. And as soon as I saw he got the job here, I was definitely interested. I even told him, like, look, if you were coaching a Pop Warner football team, I'm interested. You know, like I'm there doing something. I don't even know if I'm like the water boy, you know what I'm saying?
So like as soon as he was interested in me coming here, I was all in. I was just ready to just sign the contract and let's get going.
Q. But am I right in assuming that Cleveland probably had a lot of interest, too?
PATRICK RICARD: Yes. They were definitely interested. We had talks back and forth. Ultimately I made the decision to sign here. Felt like it was a better fit for me and my family, I felt like my history with Harbaugh. I obviously love Coach Monken, with him for the last three years now, I think it was. And just a ton of respect for him, and I know he's going to do a lot of great things there. So I'm excited for the Browns, but I'm more excited for the Giants.
Q. What do you know about Nagy's offense? He's obviously used a full fullback quite a bit over the years, too.
PATRICK RICARD: Yeah, so that's something I'm going to have to get more familiar with. I know they have Greg Roman, who I spent a lot of time with in Baltimore. So for me personally, I'm here to do whatever they ask me to do. If they want me to run the ball, they want me to throw the ball, if they want me to, I don't even know, do whatever, I'm going to do whatever I can to help this team. If I have to play every snap, if I play one snap. But I'm excited to get this thing going and see how I will be used to help this team.
Q. You talked about selfless before. Do you know how many rushing attempts you have in your career?
PATRICK RICARD: Like me getting the ball you're asking? Maybe like 15 max.
Q. You're short changing yourself.
PATRICK RICARD: How many is it?
Q. I believe it's -- is it 22? No, you're right. It's 11.
PATRICK RICARD: 11. Yeah.
Q. I misstated the yards and the thing. 11. 11 in nine years. What does that say about you and your job and your role? I know you've caught the ball and had some touchdowns, but a fullback who wants to be a big part of the running game, and you have 11 rushing attempts.
PATRICK RICARD: Yeah. I mean, that doesn't bother me at all. I've been fortunate enough to play with so many great backs and so many great quarterbacks who can run the ball to where as long as I am blocking and we are getting yards and we're getting touchdowns, that's all I care about. That's all that matters.
And for me, like I've garnished the nickname Pancake Pat because I pride myself in how physical I am, the point of attack and pancaking defenders, and if I can continue to do that, that's all I care about.
It does not bother me if I don't get the ball at all. Sometimes I'd rather have these other guys get the balls because they're just, to be honest, they're better. They're more explosive. They can run a lot faster than me, you know, I'm 300 pounds. So I'd rather have the ball in their hands and me blocking for them.
But, yeah, sometimes it's nice to get the ball and make a play for the team. But I'm okay with either, either option you want to do.
Q. How familiar are you with Cam Skattebo?
PATRICK RICARD: So I loved watching him last year, and I was just thinking to myself, I'm like, man, that guy has a lot of fun. And you can just tell by how he plays and the juice he brings to the team.
I've had a couple conversations with him. He was recruiting me to come here. I'm close with Jermaine Eluemunor, both in the same draft class in Baltimore. Jermaine was FaceTiming me, and right in the background there's Skatt just saying what's up to me. So I'm excited to work with them and get to know him more.
Q. What does it look like for a 300-pound fullback leading the way for Cam Skattebo, who is a unique individual in a lot of ways? What is that going to look like?
PATRICK RICARD: It's going to look like a lot of yards and a lot of touchdowns. It's going to be just physicality all over the place. It's going to just be exactly what the people want to see.
Q. You mentioned kind of what I was going to ask you about. You love physical play. You played with that with Harbaugh. So I'm just curious, what does that look like when this offense is physical, knowing what Harbaugh wants to bring to this offense and your role in it? What does that look like and feel like for fans who are going to be getting used to a fullback-heavy offense?
PATRICK RICARD: It's going to look like a group of individuals playing together who loves football. You're going to see the passion on the field. You're going to see guys playing incredibly hard for one another. You're going to see defense that's not going to want to come to MetLife Stadium to play us. You're going to see, you know, just bodies flying all over the place. You're going to see guys just selling out for their teammates.
And I know that's what I'm going to bring, and I'm going to try to bring that to my team and show that to my teammates and prove that every day and just be the example for the locker room for everyone to follow.
Q. And the last thing for me, you mentioned you and Jermaine are pretty cool. I'm just curious, what were those conversations like and how excited are you to kind of play with him again, because obviously you guys had some time in Baltimore; right?
PATRICK RICARD: Yeah. So if you look at Jermaine's journey, I mean he's trying to find a home, kind of bouncing around, and that whole time, I was in Baltimore for the last nine years. He's kind of bouncing around, and I'm in Baltimore, and for us to now finally be together again is just a full-circle moment.
And he was just telling me how great this place is and how much I'm going to love it and how much I'm going to love my teammates, the city. And he couldn't have said anything better about this place. So I'm just excited to be with him once again and to enjoy and see what the city is all about.
Q. I'm just sitting here worrying about that Pop Warner team that's gotta deal with Pancake Pat. Harbaugh at some point this spring is going to stand in front of the entire team and deliver his first speech as the head coach of the New York Giants. You have been with him obviously your entire career. Give me a feel, give me a sense of what John Harbaugh Act II will feel like and what it'll be like for you to kind of be in a different room, different atmosphere, different uniform, but it's the same man, same coach?
PATRICK RICARD: Yeah. It's going to -- I'm interested as well to see how he's going to be and if he's going to be -- if he's going to be the same man that he was in Baltimore or if he's going to come at it with a different approach.
But I will say this. He's going to be -- he's going to bring just that culture that he had in Baltimore in terms of being together, playing together, going through the adversities that a season brings, just being all the things that you want to see in a football team, smart, physical, disciplined, and I think that he's done it for 19 years. He's going to continue to bring it here, and I'm happy to be one of the players that's going to kind of just kind of show the guys what he wants, what he expects out of us.
I think that's the biggest thing is he's a great leader. He understands how to bring a group of men and make them one. And I think that's the biggest thing is that we can all understand that he is our leader, and as long as we do right by him, we'll be all right.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports