Ravens Releasing OT Andre Smith & S Jordan Richards, Place LB L.J. Fort On IR

Per Jeff Zrebiec, the Ravens are releasing OT Andre Smith and S Jordan Richards as a part of this round of roster cuts. 

The Ravens confirmed these moves and announced that they’ve placed LB L.J. Fort on injured reserve and waived WR Michael Dereus. 

Baltimore has to get down to 80 players by Tuesday at 4 p.m. Zrebiec adds putting LB L.J. Fort on injured reserve with his torn ACL will likely free up another roster spot. 

Smith, 34, is a former first-round pick of the Bengals back in 2009. After seven years in Cincinnati, Smith signed on with the Vikings in 2016 but lasted just a year in Minnesota.

Smith later returned to the Bengals on a one-year, $3.25 million contract before agreeing to a two-year, $8 million deal with the Cardinals in 2018. Smith returned to Bengals in 2018 but was cut loose last November. 

The Ravens signed Smith shortly after and re-signed him to a one-year deal for 2020. However, he opted out of the 2020 season due to the pandemic. 

In 2019, Smith appeared in six games for the Bengals and made five starts. He was rated by Pro Football Focus as the No. 65 offensive tackle out of 73 qualifying players at the time of his release. 

Richards, 28, is a former second-round pick of the Patriots back in 2015. The Patriots traded him to the Falcons in 2018 for a conditional seventh-round pick.

Richards played out the final year of his four-year, $3.711 million contract before signing a one-year deal with the Raiders in 2019. However, he was released coming out of the preseason.

After a brief stint with the Patriots, Richards signed with the Ravens and returned to Baltimore the past two years on a one-year contract. 

In 2020, Richards appeared in all 16 games for the Ravens and recorded three tackles.

Fort, 31, originally signed on with the Browns as an undrafted free agent out of Northern Iowa back in 2012. He had brief stints with the Seahawks, Bengals and Patriots before the Steelers claimed him off of waivers back in 2015.

Fort was on and off of the Steelers’ practice squad for a few seasons but spent the better part of the past two years on their active roster. The Eagles signed him to a three-year contract in 2019 only to release him later on in the year. 

The Ravens signed Fort to their active roster and brought him back on a two-year, $5.5 million extension. However, Baltimore opted to release Fort during the offseason only to re-sign him in April. 

In 2020, Fort appeared in 14 games for the Ravens and recorded 50 tackles, no sacks, a forced fumble, two recoveries, a defensive touchdown and two pass deflections.