Is it possible for a rythmn guitarist to not just play chords but still be rythmn?

Our band has both a lead and rythmn guitarist, and bass, and drummer
and a signer. Our rythmn gutiarist(who isnt the lead like traditional
bands) wants to play more than chords, or course he is gonna play more
chords than the lead guitarist, is it possible for him to play chords
and SMALL riffs and stuff that dont follow the bass or the lead and
still be rythmn. So basically hes almost gonna be like a unique rythmn
since hes gonna hold the beat down with both riffs and chords without
following either the bass or the lead. And if your worried about the
lead dont be since our lead is doing riffs the whole time and when it
comes to riffs hes even gonna be crazier than rythmn So are there any
bands or songs where the rythmn guitarist doesnt follow the bass or
the lead that much but still holds the rythmn down with chords and
riffs.