Rice is only 28, so it’s possible he could still provide value to a team willing to look beyond his past off-the-field transgressions.
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Wilbert Montgomery, the team’s running backs coach, held the same position with the Ravens during Rice’s first six seasons (2008-13).
I discussed the Browns and their running backs in a recent podcast and I was going to do 15 seconds on Ray Rice and it slipped my mind.
The Browns are reportedly looking at the former Ravens running back to fill a hole on their roster.
Pettine began his NFL career in Baltimore in 2002, working his way up from a video assistant’s gig to linebackers coach before following Rex Ryan to the Jets in 2009. On Sunday, Montgomery called out the team’s running backs, saying “nobody wants the role” as the Browns’ featured back. They now have Isaiah Crowell, Terrance West and Duke Johnson. “But I think it would get to that point if we arrived at it from a football standpoint, then asked that question”.
Signing Rice and giving him another chance would be the right thing to do, and it would improve the Browns as a team. “I hope like hell he gets that opportunity”.
If Cleveland is truly concerned about their running back rotation, but does not want the media headache Rice would bring, players like Steven Jackson, Pierre Thomas and Chris Johnson remain on the open market.
One reason: the video that showed him punching his then-fiancee in a hotel elevator in February 2014. The Ravens released him and the NFL suspended him afterward.
Earlier in the offseason, ESPN’s John Clayton reported the Cleveland Browns were a potential landing spot for Ray Rice.
Given that Rice, who was reinstated last December, hasn’t endured any physical game contact in the NFL since 2013 and his stats were underwhelming, it’s hard for any organization to justify the potential public relation backlash of bringing Rice aboard.
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Pettine also told SI.com that there’s been no need for him to decide yet how Rice’s domestic violence incident factors in because “why bother with asking the question if the need never presents itself?” Instead, I’d rather prefer a guy like Ahmad Bradshaw, if they do sign a veteran running back at all.
