Getty Ravens DE Jason Pierre-Paul in a regular season game with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on October 28, 2018.
After sporting the No. 90 through his first dozen years in the NFL, veteran edge defender Jason Pierre Paul will be dawning a new jersey number for the first time in his career. The three-time Pro Bowl pass rusher and two-time Superbowl champion officially signed with the Baltimore Ravens on September 26, 2022, after successfully passing a physical and decided to pick the No. 4 for his new number with his new team.
heart just turned purple 💜
The decision makes him the eighth Ravens player to select a single digit as their jersey number. The other seven include quarterbacks Lamar Jackson (No. 8) and Tyler Huntley (No. 2), kicker Justin Tucker (No. 9), wide receivers Rashod Bateman (No. 7) and James Proche II (No. 3), inside linebacker Patrick Queen (No. 6), and cornerback Jalyn Armour-Davis (No. 5).
Rookie outside linebacker David Ojabo chose Pierre-Paul’s usual No. 90 after being drafted by the Ravens at No. 45 overall in the second round of this year’s draft out of Michigan and will play at some point this season once he is activated from the Reserve/Non-Football Injury list.
In addition to joining the single-digit club, Pierre Paul’s jersey selection makes him just the third player in franchise history that will sport the No. 4 jersey. Ravens special teams consultant, Sam Koch, wore it for his entire 16-year career with the team as the starting punter from 2006-2021 before retiring this past May and head coach John Harbaugh’s younger brother Jim wore it during his one-year stint as the starting quarterback in 1998.
Accelerated Acclimation Plan
The Ravens aren’t wasting any time trying to get Pierre-Paul up to speed and ready to play as soon as possible. With fellow veteran and multi-time Pro Bowl edge defender Justin Houston dealing with a groin injury he suffered in the first half of the team’s Week 3 win over the New England Patriots, they are going to need him for their big AFC matchup with the Buffalo Bills in Week 4.
Pierre-Paul hit the practice field for the first with his new teammates on Wednesday, took as many reps as he could handle, and looked impressive. Since second-year pro Odafe Oweh is the only other outside linebacker on the active 53-man roster, the Ravens are going to need their newest addition to learn quickly and hopefully be ready to play right away.
“He looked good; we’ll see the tape,” head coach John Harbaugh said on September 28, 2022. “The process is to get him out there as fast as we can, so we’ll shoot for this week. We’ll see if we can do it. If we can’t do it, it will be next week or whenever we can do it.”
Welcome to the squad, JPP ❗️
JPP Brings a Great Wealth of Invaluable Experience
His new teammates are happy to have him in the fold and are excited about the impact he can have on the defense when it comes to playing and game planning for future opponents. After a dozen years in the league with two different teams and multiple schemes, he comes with a tremendous amount of valuable experience that only a seasoned vet that has performed at a high level for an extended period of time can bring to the table.
“He brings a lot of great experience; [he’s a] heck of a talent; another guy [who] sees the game at a coordinator level,” veteran defensive end Calais Campbell said in a press conference on September 28, 2022. “When we create the plans and the programs and watch the tape when we go and talk through stuff, I think it’s good to have veterans who have done it and who have had success.”
Pierre-Paul also comes with plenty of big game experience having played in two Superbowls and being a two-time champion. He was a starter for the 2011 New York Giants that beat the Patriots in Superbowl 46 and nine years later, did the same with the 2020 Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Superbowl 55 over the Kansas City Cheifs. The Ravens only have two members of their last title-winning team on the roster in kicker Justin Tucker and inside linebacker Josh Bynes. Having another veteran player who knows what is required to achieve the sport’s ultimate prize is “huge” for a 2022 Ravens team with championship aspirations.
“He knows what it takes to get to the Super Bowl,” veteran cornerback Marcus Peters said in a press conference on September 28, 2022. “Just watching when they [Tampa Bay] beat the Chiefs, I think he was a key part of putting together that rush plan of how they can attack certain quarterbacks who are mobile and all those things. So, I think it’s going to be very big to add him to our group.”