It seemed like Ravens running back Bernard Pierce spent a lot of the 2013 season running directly into the clutches of the opposition and it seems to have taken a toll on his shoulder.
Aaron Wilson of the Baltimore Sun reports that Pierce went for a second opinion on his injured right shoulder on Tuesday and that the expectation is that he’ll have surgery to repair a damaged rotator cuff. The surgery has not been scheduled yet and, per the report, Pierce will have four or five months of rehab waiting for him once he does have the operation.
That could cut into his availability for the team’s offseason program and it could lead the Ravens to consider other possibilities at running back. There’s been talk in Baltimore about adding a bigger back to the team’s mix, something that has some appeal given how the team’s backs performed during the regular season.
Both Pierce and Ray Rice spent big chunks of the 2013 season banged up by injury and their production reflected their compromised physical states. Pierce averaged 2.9 yards per carry, two yards fewer than he averaged in 2012, and just below Rice’s average of 3.1 yards during a dismal year for the Ravens running game.