The Baltimore Ravens finally signed their veteran replacement for Michael Pierce and he’s a perfect fit

Jenkins will be 36 years old in July and has 150 career games to his name. He was a third-round draft choice by the Saints in the 2013 NFL Draft before spending the first four seasons of his career with New Orleans. In his years since, he’s spent time with the Seattle Seahawks, Chicago Bears, New York Giants, Miami Dolphins, and most recently, the Las Vegas Raiders.

The financial terms of Jenkins’ deal with the Ravens are not immediately available, but his most recent contract in Las Vegas was for less than $3 million for the 2024 season. Given the timing of this signing and Jenkins’ role as predominantly a nose tackle, odds are his price point will remain in a similar range for 2025.

As a hard-to-move anchor in the middle, Jenkins can serve a similar value to Baltimore’s front as fans came to expect from Pierce during his tenure with the team. Jenkins lacks the same compact build that Pierce was known for but boasts similar size and effectiveness in the heart of the defense.

Despite his age, he played 609 snaps for the Raiders last season, plus another 103 on special teams — an impressive workload for a long in the tooth veteran. Of his 609 defensive snaps, more than have of them came in the A-gap between the center and the guard. Ideally, the Ravens won’t need to see Jenkins fulfill such a high-volume role in 2025. 

If he does, it likely means Jones has found himself out of commission for an extended period of time. But it’s nice peace of mind to know that if push comes to shove, Jenkins can still answer the call as a high-volume anchor inside.