Hours before the official start of the new league year, Ravens nose tackle Michael Pierce announced his retirement after a nine-year career in the NFL.
Speaking as a guest on the Sports Spectrum podcast, the 32-year-old announced he was retiring after a successful run that included seven seasons in Baltimore. A 2016 undrafted free agent out of Samford, Pierce spent his first four seasons with the Ravens and returned after a two-year stint with Minnesota. At his peak, he was one of the best run-stopping nose tackles in the league, which prompted the Vikings to sign him to a three-year, $27 million contract in the 2020 offseason and the Ravens to bring him back to Baltimore on a three-year, $16.5 million deal after he was released by Minnesota in 2022.
In 11 games last season, the 6-foot, 355-pound Pierce collected 19 tackles, two sacks, and an interception that made for one of the top highlights of the 2024 NFL campaign. Unfortunately, 2024 also marked the third time in four years that Pierce missed six or more games as a calf injury landed him on injured reserve from late October through mid-December. Pierce had acknowledged he was nearing retirement when discussing his football future over the last couple years, so his decision isn’t a big surprise despite one year remaining on his current contract.
Pierce collected 238 tackles, 19 tackles for a loss, 9 1/2 sacks, three forced fumbles, six fumble recoveries, and an interception over 99 career regular-season games. He goes down as one of the many undrafted free agents to find much success with Baltimore.
It remains to be seen how general manager Eric DeCosta elects to process Pierce’s retirement as doing so before June 1 would result in just $666,000 in savings and $2 million in dead money on the salary cap. Processing it after June 1 would save $2 million on the 2025 cap and push $1.33 million of the aforementioned dead money to next season.
