March 12 (UPI) — Veteran nose tackle Michael Pierce will retire from the NFL after nine years, he announced Wednesday.
Pierce, 32, announced his departure on the Sports Spectrum podcast. The former Samford star joined the Baltimore Ravens as an undrafted free agent in 2016. He appeared in 91 games for the AFC North franchise.
“After nine seasons, after much prayer, talking to my family, just going through the grind, man, and just being satisfied with there I am, looking forward to doing other things in life, I just decided to call it a career,” Pierce said.
“It’s been a beautiful, beautiful, beautiful nine years.”
The 6-foot, 355-pound defensive lineman totaled 238 combined tackles, 19 tackles for a loss, 9.5 sacks, six passes defensed, six fumble recoveries, three forced fumbles and an interception during his NFL tenure. Pierce, who opted out of the COVID-19 impacted 2020 NFL season, spent the 2021 campaign with the Minnesota Vikings.
He recorded 19 combined tackles, two passes defensed, two sacks and the only interception of his career in 2024-25 for the Ravens.
Pierce signed a two-year, $7.5 million contract extension with the Ravens last off-season. The Ravens will clear about $669,000 in salary cap space due to his retirement. They will incur a dead salary cap hit of about $2 million in 2025.
