Ray Rice will return to Baltimore on Sunday, with the Ravens set to honor the former star running back as a "Legend of the Game."
Matched up with the Dolphins in a race for the AFC's No. 1 playoff seed, the Ravens will pay tribute to Rice, 36, as not only an accomplished alumni of the franchise, but a recent difference-maker in the community.
With 6,180 career rushing yards, the former Rutgers product is second among Baltimore's all-time ball-carriers, behind only Jamal Lewis. The three-time Pro Bowler, who led the NFL in scrimmage yards in 2011 and helped the Ravens win the Super Bowl in 2012, is best known for an infamous 2014 domestic violence incident in which he assaulted then-fiancée Janay Palmer.
Rice was released by the Ravens and received an indefinite suspension in the wake of the incident, never to set foot on an NFL field again. But he and Janay, now married for close to a decade, have together used their history to speak out against domestic violence. Rice's relationship with the Ravens, meanwhile, has since been repaired, per The Athletic, with the former running back paying several visits to team facilities for motivational speeches, including at training camp this summer.
Rice launched a nonprofit in 2019 to aid underprivileged children in the Baltimore and New York areas and has also partnered with organizations like the Childhood Domestic Violence Association.
"I truly understand why I was let go and why so many hearts changed," Rice said recently, per BaltimoreRavens.com. "But hopefully people can see where I'm at now. They say people can change, right? I am not the same person I was 10-12 years ago. That's just not who I am. ... Every time I stepped on the field, I gave it my all. But I couldn't say the same for life. Now I'm trying to be the best version of me. ... I want people to really see me. I'm still standing. I'm still going to be strong. I'm still going to help as many people as I can. I'm still going to be a man in the community."
