The Baltimore Ravens signed defensive lineman Michael Pierce in 2022 free agency to a three-year $16.5 million dollar contract. He returns to the team for his second stint after a short stay with the Minnesota Vikings, who he inked a three-year contract with during the 2020 offseason, but was cut before the duration of the contract finished.
Pierce spoke to the media after a training camp practice and answered a plethora of different questions. He went into detail about what it feels like to be back in Baltimore and reunite with members of the organization, sayin git feels like a homecoming for him.
"It's been like a homecoming for me. It's awesome." pic.twitter.com/UpKbYLf4Pz
— Baltimore Ravens (@Ravens) August 2, 2022
“It’s just, like I said, when I first came back in a bunch of interviews, it’s the people around the building. You obviously know your teammates, ‘TJ’ [Tony Jefferson II], Marlon [Humphrey], Ronnie [Stanley], Lamar [Jackson] etcetera, etcetera, Gus [Edwards] and all of those guys. But just the rapport I had with our coaching staff, obviously we know who Coach ‘Harbs’ [head coach John Harbaugh] is. [Defensive coordinator] Mike Macdonald was the linebackers coach at the time, but having familiarity with him, I played with [inside linebackers coach] Zach Orr, [Anthony] Levine, we can just go on and on about those guys. But like I said, seeing Manny and Shorty in the cafeteria again, [team clinician] Dr. Tricia [Bent-Goodley], ‘Ms. Val’ [Valerie Wideman], [team chaplain] Johnny [Shelton]. I have a really, really special relationship with all of those people. So, it’s like a homecoming for me. So, that was a no-brainer.”
Pierce is expected to replace a lot of what former Baltimore defensive tackle Brandon Williams did for the team, but over the past few years he he hasn’t played a ton of football. He only suited up for six games during the 2021 season as a member of the Vikings after opting out of 2020. Pierce is looking for a comeback season to prove to the rest of the NFL that he still has plenty left in the tank, and should have a sizable role on the Ravens’ defensive unit.