The Ravens have officially signed decorated veteran pass rusher Jason Pierre-Paul to a one-year deal.
The Ravens first met with the 33-year-old linebacker in mid-June, then had him in for another visit a week ago with injuries piling up at the position and a desire for more pass rush help. They agreed to terms last Thursday and Pierre-Paul is joining the team this week.
Pierre-Paul will now try to get up to speed as fast as possible, and the Ravens could use him immediately with Justin Houston dealing with a groin injury suffered in Sunday's win in New England.
"It's just going to be how he looks out there really at practice. As soon as he's ready, he wants to play, I know that," Head Coach John Harbaugh said Friday. "He's not coming in here to take a lot of time to get ramped up; I don't think that's in his mind right now."
Pierre-Paul has 91 ½ career sacks who has won Super Bowls with the Giants and Buccaneers. He has registered at least seven sacks in eight of his 12 NFL seasons. A first-round pick in 2010, Pierre-Paul spent the past four seasons with Tampa Bay and eight years with the New York Giants.
Playing with a torn rotator cuff last season, Pierre-Paul was limited to 2.5 sacks in 12 games, the first time since 2015 that he did not have at least seven sacks. He underwent shoulder surgery in February and will look to return to the form he showed in 2020 when he had 9 ½ sacks and made the Pro Bowl for the third time.
The Ravens have been looking to increase their pass rush after Steven Means and Vince Biegel were lost for the season with Achilles injuries. Tyus Bowser, who led Baltimore with seven sacks last season, is still coming off Achilles surgery and not eligible to play until Week 5 after going on reserve/PUP. Second-round rookie outside linebacker David Ojabo suffered an Achilles injury at his Pro Day, and while the Ravens expect him to play at some point in 2022, he is on reserve/NFI.
Odafe Oweh and Houston have been the starting outside linebackers this season, with Malik Harrison also moving outside. Houston leads the team with 2.0 sacks so far this season, but Oweh has not registered one yet through the first three games.
