Tag: Michael Pierce

Vikings Friday injury report: Key players out and questionable

Here is the Vikings’ Friday injury report:

Vikings return man Ihmir Smith-Marsette has played pretty well so far, becoming one of the only rookies in the Minnesota 2021 draft class to see the field consistently.

Now, the team will have to adjust to not having him. Smith-Marsette will be out for the game against the Seahawks on Sunday. There are also four players who are questionable in Week 4, including some of the best players on offense and defense: LB Anthony Barr, CB Kris Boyd, RB Dalvin Cook and DT Michael Pierce. The team could really use Barr back. He’s missed all three games so far. Cook missed last game, while Pierce and Boyd have missed none.

Without Barr, Minnesota needs other linebackers on the team, like Nick Vigil to step up. Dalvin Cook would be a big loss, but Alexander Mattison is one of the best backup running backs in the NFL. Michael Pierce, who’s seen as a run stopper, has been good in both the run game and the passing game from the nose tackle spot in 2021.

Stock up, stock down in Vikings’ loss to the Bengals

Here is the stock report from the Vikings’ Week 1 loss:

The Vikings had a winnable game in Week 1. But now the team is left trying to assess what went wrong.

Cincinnati upset Minnesota 27-24 on Sunday in overtime. The Vikings looked good at times, but made too many costly mistakes to really even deserve to win at the end.

Overall, there are a lot of things the Vikings can improve on in Week 2. Here is the stock up, stock down from the Week 1 loss:

Former Ravens DL Michael Pierce reportedly sustains injury, has yet to play game since leaving Baltimore

Former Ravens DL Michael Pierce reportedly sustains injury, has yet to play game since leaving Baltimore

The Baltimore Ravens saw a few of their key contributors leave during the 2020 offseason, including defensive tackle Michael Pierce. The former undrafted rookie made a name for himself in Baltimore, but chose to sign a three year, $27 million deal with the Minnesota Vikings to bolster their defensive line.

Pierce was expected to do big things in Minnesota, but he opted out of the 2020 season due to COVID-19. Now, it’s been reported by Ian Rapoport of NFL Network that the defensive tackle suffered a calf injury while training and getting ready for the 2021 season.

Rapoport notes that the injury isn’t expected to hinder Pierce’s availability for Week 1, but it could mean that the Vikings will have to wait a bit longer to see a big signing from their 2020 free agent class in action. A reunion with Pierce is in order for the Ravens this season, as they’re set to face Minnesota in Week 9.

With Brandon Williams in the fold, Pierce wasn’t a natural fit in Baltimore’s defense. The team tried to play both big men on the field at the same time, but it left them weak in some areas of their defensive line play. Pierce should play a big role in the Vikings’ success once he’s back on the field, but for now he’ll be focused on recovering and getting healthy as the regular season quickly approaches.

In four seasons with the Ravens, Pierce accumulated 151 total tackles and 3.5 sacks while also being a plus-defender against the run.

Report: Vikings DT Michael Pierce suffers calf injury while training

Vikings nose tackle Michael Pierce suffered a calf injury, but he’s not expected to miss the beginning of the season.

Minnesota’s biggest free agency signing of 2020 was nose tackle Michael Pierce.

Amid the coronavirus pandemic, Pierce was a high-risk opt-out in 2020, setting back the timeline for when he could play for the Vikings. Pierce experienced another setback recently, but at least he’s not expected to miss game time.

According to NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport, Pierce suffered a calf injury while training and his availability for the start of camp is in doubt. However, Pierce’s injury is not expected to keep him off the field for the start of the season, per Rapoport.

If Pierce does end up missing any time, Minnesota has depth on the interior defensive line to make up for it. Expect Sheldon Richardson to start and Dalvin Tomlinson to fill in at the nose tackle spot.

However, the Vikings defensive line at full strength would likely see Pierce and Tomlinson starting, with Richardson filling in as a key rational lineman.

How did Ravens acquire each of their 2021 draft picks?

The Baltimore Ravens were busy throughout the past year making trades and acquiring assets. How did they get the picks they currently have?

The Baltimore Ravens have done plenty of wheeling and dealing over the course of the past year. They’ve packaged draft selections for players, traded their own players for picks, and have now put together what should be a final board of selections as they head into the 2021 NFL Draft. That board can change throughout the three days of the draft, but it should stay as-is leading into the festivities.

With the draft being so close to beginning, it’s interesting to look back on how Baltimore put together their current arsenal of picks. Here are the original selections that the team would have had if they didn’t make any moves.

Round: Pick:
Round 1 No. 27
Round 2 No. 58
Round 3 No. 90
Round 4 No. 131
Round 5 No. 171
Round 6 No. 210
Round 7 No. 254

Out of their original picks, the Ravens still own four of them in No. 27, No. 131, No. 171, and No. 210. Baltimore traded No. 58, No. 90, and No. 254 away in separate deals.

Pick: Traded away:
No. 58 With Orlando Brown Jr.
No. 90 For Yannick Ngakoue
No. 254 With Chris Wormley

Despite trading away a few 2021 picks, the team made sure to grab plenty of others, as they now have the rights to No. 31, No. 94, No. 104, No. 136, and No. 184. Here’s how the team acquired each of those selections.

Pick: Acquired:
No. 31 For Orlando Brown Jr.
No. 94 For Orlando Brown Jr.
No. 104 For David Culley
No. 136 For Orlando Brown Jr.
No. 184 For Michael Pierce

The picks that the team was awarded for both David Culley and Michael Pierce were because of the compensatory pick formula. The Ravens also acquired the 168th selection in a trade with the Pittsburgh Steelers for defensive lineman Chris Wormley, but traded the rights to the pick during the 2020 draft to trade up and select wide receiver James Proche.

For the Ravens, their final draft chart has value throughout.

Round: Pick:
Round 1 No. 27
Round 1 No. 31
Round 3 No. 94
Round 3 No. 104
Round 4 No. 131
Round 4 No. 136
Round 5 No. 171
Round 5 No. 184
Round 6 No. 210

Baltimore has plenty of selections to play around with during the draft. Eric DeCosta and company will most likely be very active throughout all three days, as they certainly have the ammunition to do so.

Read Michael Pierce’s routine for Vikings’ games last season

The defensive tackle’s gameday routine probably looked similar to your routine.

Vikings defensive tackle Michael Pierce opted out of the 2020 season due to COVID-19 precautions as he suffers from asthma.

Pierce, 28, had a Sunday routine, though, for when he watched the Vikings’ game. It probably looks similar to what some of us fans did.

“I got on my Peloton. I hopped in the sauna, went to church, and by that time it was 12 o’clock. Had me a good, nice meal, got me a glass of wine and watched Vikings football just like everybody else,” Pierce said via the Associated Press: “I made the most of it.”

Pierce is ready to go in 2021 and he’ll be next to newly-signed defensive tackle Dalvin Tomlinson in a move to bolster Minnesota’s run defense.

Pierce’s contract runs through the 2023 season. He’ll make $3 million in 2021.

The Vikings will have plenty of new faces on defense with Pierce, Tomlinson and Patrick Peterson. We’ll see if it can improve a squad that was downright miserable last season.

Vikings DT Michael Pierce talks about the potential of the Minnesota defense

Vikings DT Michael Pierce thinks the 2020 NFL season was an outlier on defense for Minnesota.

The Vikings defense struggled to get stops in 2020, but that could all change with a few players being available.

Danielle Hunter, who’s coming off a season-ending injury, should be a big boost. There’s also Michael Pierce, the team’s biggest signing of the 2020 offseason. Pierce was a high-risk opt out in 2020, but he is expected to play in 2021.

Pierce recently talked about the Vikings defense with reporters:

“We’ll get a lot of guys back healthy this year. Obviously, with [Hunter] and Anthony Barr and all of those guys,” Pierce said. “Dalvin Tomlinson will be next to me — that’s a big-, big-, big-time gift for me and for our defensive front. I’m super excited.”

Pierce said he has not been without football this long and cannot wait to get on the field.

“Last year was an outlier for this team,” Pierce said. “The additions and the health that we’re going to bring to the field this season, it’s going to be a lot more reminiscent of what you guys are used to. And that’s why I signed here: to play on another great defense. … I think we’re going to be really good.”

Former Vikings DT Jaleel Johnson signs with Texans

Johnson was a 2017 fourth-round pick out of Iowa.

After four seasons with the Vikings, defensive tackle Jaleel Johnson will takes his talents to the Houston Texans.

Johnson was a 2017 fourth-round pick out of Iowa. His time in Minnesota was fine. He started 16 games last season, but it was more out of desperation with Michael Pierce opting out of the season rather than because Johnson deserved the gig.

We’ll see what type of role Johnson has with the Texans moving forward.

Ravens get 2 compensatory picks in 2021 NFL draft

Thanks to the losses of WR coach David Culley and defensive tackle Michael Pierce, the Baltimore Ravens have added two compensatory picks

The Baltimore Ravens will get a few more selections in the 2021 NFL draft thanks to their offseason losses over the last two years. The NFL announced the full list of compensatory picks, awarding the Ravens two of them.

The Ravens have received third-round (No. 104) and fifth-round (No. 183) compensatory picks. While the list doesn’t include the breakdown of how they were calculated exactly, it’s expected they’re from the loss of defensive tackle Michael Pierce last offseason and former wide receivers coach David Culley this offseason.

Under the NFL’s newly adopted minority hiring initiative, teams that lose a minority coach to an executive or head-coaching job will earn third-round compensatory picks in each of the next two NFL drafts. With the Texans hiring Culley to replace Bill O’Brien this offseason, he qualifies under the new initiative, seeing the Ravens get a third-round selection in the 2021 and 2022 NFL drafts.

The two additional compensatory picks will give Baltimore a total of seven selections in the 2021 NFL draft, and boy you better believe Ravens general manager Eric DeCosta is excited about it.

Thanks to excellent scouting and drafting over the years, Baltimore has been the best team in the league at acquiring these compensatory picks. With these latest selections, the Ravens continue to lead the NFL in compensatory picks, getting 53 of them since 1994. Considering Baltimore didn’t have a team until 1996, the fact they’re six ahead of the next-place team is an impressive feat.

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Offensive line, defensive line, cornerback listed as Vikings’ top needs

What do you think are the Minnesota Vikings’ biggest positional needs this offseason?

Minnesota made the postseason in 2019, but the team still had some glaring weaknesses at that time. Many of those weaknesses were exposed in 2020.

The Vikings defense struggled to get stops, the team’s interior offensive line didn’t protect the quarterback well and the special teams unit was chaotic as a whole.

NFL.com’s Michael Baca recently listed Minnesota’s top needs. Baca opted for offensive line, defensive line and cornerback. Here’s part of what he wrote:

“The Vikings’ defense was decimated by opposing rushers last season, with Minnesota allowing 134.4 rushing yards per game (27th in the NFL). There are a handful of veteran free-agents who could make the D-line an even bigger strength. The porous run defense and inconsistent pass rush may’ve set up the young secondary for failure last season; still, adding a defensive back wouldn’t hurt, if it can be managed.”

If Minnesota can bring in both Michael Pierce and Danielle Hunter, the defensive line will almost certainly improve. But that doesn’t mean the unit will be stellar. The Vikings still need to add defensive linemen through the draft and free agency to help the unit.

The same goes for the offensive line. For cornerback, that might be a group where the Vikings hope that Cameron Dantzler, Jeff Gladney and others make significant strides in year two.