Ravens to let Pro Bowl defender hit open market?

Two of the Ravens’ Professional Bowl defenders, defensive lineman Justin Madubuike and inside linebacker Patrick Queen, are on account of hit free company in March. As Baltimore seems more likely to put the franchise tag on Madubuike, there will not be sufficient cap room to present Queen the kind of contract he would command on the open market, and GM Eric DeCosta just lately instructed that Queen would get the prospect to see what the market has in retailer for him.

“Patrick had an incredible season,” DeCosta mentioned at his end-of-season presser, via Jeff Zrebiec of The Athletic. “I really like Patrick. He’s one in every of my favourite guys on the crew. He’s put himself in a fantastic place, probably, to hit the market and see what his worth is. You by no means know.”

The Ravens chosen Queen within the first spherical of the 2020 draft. Whereas the LSU product flashed at instances throughout his first a number of years within the league, he didn’t actually get away till Baltimore acquired fellow inside ‘backer Roquan Smith on the 2022 commerce deadline. With the elite Smith as a operating mate, Queen lastly started dwelling as much as his draft standing and excelled down the stretch of the 2022 marketing campaign. Baltimore nonetheless declined the fifth-year choice on Queen’s rookie deal. Extension talks between participant and crew failed to provide an settlement, which led to some frustration on Queen’s half and which turned 2023 right into a platform yr.

Though Queen was named a trade candidate within the run-up to final yr’s draft and over the summer, the Ravens elected to let him end out his rookie contract, to the good thing about each events. In 17 video games (all begins) in 2023, Queen set a career-high with 133 tackles and graded out because the Twenty third-best linebacker within the league (eight spots behind Smith) per Professional Soccer Focus. Within the course of, he earned the primary Professional Bowl bid of his profession and set himself up properly for a profitable contract in his first foray into free company.

Provided that the Ravens have already dedicated a five-year, $100M contract to Smith, it was all the time unlikely that they’d authorize a contract for Queen commensurate along with his market worth (which Spotrac estimates is $18.5M/year). That’s very true given the franchise’s penchant for drafting and creating high quality ILB expertise, and 2023 third-rounder Trenton Simpson is in line to take over Queen’s position ought to the latter discover a new employer in 2024.

DeCosta clearly didn’t rule out a reunion with Queen, however except his market doesn’t develop as anticipated, it presently seems as if the 24-year-old can be enjoying elsewhere in 2024.