A year after a Lisfranc foot injury cost him the end of his breakout season, Ravens right tackle Rick Wagner relished the opportunity to be an iron man on the offensive line this year, even if he wasn’t at 100 percent.
Wagner played all but six of the Ravens’ 1,134 offensive snaps this season, four fewer than right guard Marshal Yanda, who only missed two this season. And on the eve of the season finale, coach John Harbaugh said Wagner was doing it — and playing his best football of the year — with all kinds of injuries that he refused to let bother him.
“That’s part of the job, going out there when you’re not feeling the best,” Wagner said. “You’ve got to do it for your teammates. They’re struggling too sometimes, not feeling their greatest. But I definitely got lucky this year, without too many injuries. Nothing serious like last year.”
At times, Wagner was listed on the injury report and missed practice with an ankle injury and a knee injury. The latter kept him out of the opening series of the second half in Week 13 against the Miami Dolphins, but he didn’t miss any snaps the rest of the year.
“That’s just normal stuff for O-linemen,” Wagner said. “Maybe not for an average guy, but that’s part of the job. I think O-line, you can definitely battle through some injuries that other positions just can’t.”
Wagner did that more than just at the end of the season. After a limited preseason run designed to ease him back in after his foot surgery, Wagner deflected questions about whether his foot was actually 100 percent early in the season. He posted for every game despite being limited more than he would admit at the time.
“It was tough,” Wagner said. “I figured I had to find different ways to play, just kind of balancing different. I’m just really looking forward to this offseason to finally get 100 percent again and give it some time to actually relax and rebuild.”
That restful offseason will come before an important season for Wagner, who was a fifth-round NFL draft pick in 2013. His rookie contract expires after next season, and after two years of steady, reliable play as the starter, the Ravens have the opportunity beginning this offseason to negotiate a contract extension that could keep him in Baltimore long term.
Wagner has flourished in the Ravens’ zone-blocking scheme under offensive line coach Juan Castillo, and has the admiration of his coaches and teammates for playing through what he did this year.
With the season so fresh, Wagner didn’t seem like he’d given his contract much thought when the Ravens cleaned out their lockers Monday.
“I really have no power over that,” he said. “I just do what I do and we’ll see what the future holds. ... I definitely love it, but that’s up to the guys upstairs. This is a great place, a great organization and I’m just really proud to be a Raven.”