The Minnesota Vikings are set to sign former Baltimore Ravens defensive tackle Michael Pierce. Pierce’s departure shouldn’t come as a shock considering the Ravens have agreed to a deal with former Los Angeles Rams defensive tackle Michael Brockers and re-signed Justin Ellis already this offseason. Yet, it signaled what we already suspected — that Baltimore was going to let Pierce leave in free agency.
Where things get a little interesting is how similar the deals for Brockers and Pierce are. While the full details of Pierce’s deal aren’t out yet, his three-year deal is set to clock in at $27 million. Meanwhile, the Ravens are handing out a three-year deal to Brockers for $30 million. Baltimore have an easy out in 2022 on their deal with Brockers but the numbers are eerily similar.
We expected Pierce would earn a sizeable deal in our free agency preview and predicted it would be more than Baltimore was willing to pay for him. But considering Pierce was among the league’s best run-stuffing defensive tackles, seeing Brockers actually get paid a little more overall has plenty of fans scratching their heads. Though the Ravens probably aren’t going to announce to the world why they decided to go in a different direction, we have a few clues to go by.
Pierce showing up to training camp heavy in a contract year earned him no brownie points last season. He was sent off the field by coach John Harbaugh for conditioning issues and that bad taste undoubtedly stuck with Baltimore throughout the entire season. Making the decision to grab Brockers was likely bolstered by getting an up-close look at him when the Los Angeles Rams came to town for joint practices in 2018.
Though he flashed at times, Pierce wasn’t really known for his pass-rushing ability. And with the addition of Calais Campbell, the Ravens are being pretty clear they want to offer more of an interior pass rush in 2020. When comparing the stat sheets for Brockers and Pierce, things begin to make a lot more sense here.
Brockers has gotten nearly triple the number of quarterback hits over Pierce since the start of the 2018 season. Pierce only had a combined eight pressures over those two years while Brockers had 17 last year alone and nine in 2018. That all boils down into sacks where Brockers had four and Pierce managed just a half-sack over that timeframe.
Simply put, Brockers was a better all-around player and seems to fit what the Ravens want to do next season. And there’s a good case to be made that Baltimore is actually getting a steal by signing Brockers over Pierce.
[vertical-gallery id=44016]