This offseason will be extremely busy for Baltimore Ravens general manager Eric DeCosta as he sifts through all the free agents Baltimore must address. One of those key free agents will be linebacker Patrick Queen.
Bleacher Report’s Alex Kay believes the Ravens could be better suited walking away from the star LB. Kay proposed letting the homegrown product walk in his article, “Top NFL Free Agents Teams Need to Let Walk Away in 2024 Offseason.”
Kay wrote, “Patrick Queen is one of the latest in a storied line of elite players to man that position for the squad, but it remains to be seen how much longer he’ll be with the organization now that he’s due for a new contract.”
The Ravens drafted Queen in the first round of 2020 but declined to pick up his 5th-year option in 2023 allowing him to get to free agency now.
Spotrac’s market value tool gives the first-round LB a projected contract of 5-year, $92 million. “His estimated market value of $18.5 million per season should price him out of Baltimore’s reach,” Kay explained.
Losing Queen would be a major loss to the defense. He developed into one of the NFL’s premier linebackers over the last two seasons.
Kay wrote, “Queen rarely leaves the field (he logged 97 percent of the Ravens’ defensive snaps this past season) and contributes heavily as both a strong run-stuffer and pass-rusher—he ranks No. 2 in the league among off-ball linebackers in both sacks (8) and pressures (48) over the past two seasons.”
Queen was a Pro Bowler and All-Pro Second Team this season and set a career high 133 combined tackles.
Ravens’ Investment at Position Could Prevent Patrick Queen Signing
Letting Queen walk away is almost unthinkable for most teams; however, for the Ravens it could be necessary. One of the reasons being Baltimore already has heavily invested in the LB position.
“Baltimore will be hard-pressed to afford both Queen and Roquan Smith going forward,” Kay explained. Fellow LB Smith was brought in at the 2022 trade deadline from the Chicago Bears and has become a critical piece of the Ravens defense.
The Ravens immediately rewarded Smith for his stellar play with a contract. “Smith notably earned a five-year extension worth a record-setting (for the position) $100 million just last year.”
The former Bear will be part of the Ravens foreseeable future, but it come at the cost of the homegrown Queen. Smith and Queen have turned into one of the best LB duos in the NFL and Queen has played his best since Smith was brought in.
Queen has set consecutive career high seasons in tackles with Smith as his fellow linebacker. Queen was able to play with a ferocity, while Smith handled the defensive assignments.
With already one LB at $100 million, it is hard to imagine the Ravens investing potentially another $90 million.
Signing Patrick Queen Could Cost Other Key Free Agents
Part of the issue for the Ravens is they have a multitude of their own free agents to be addressed. They also have positions where improvement is needed from outside free agents.
According to Kay, “The Ravens are coming off a painful defeat in the AFC Championship Game [to the Kansas City Chiefs] and have several more pressing needs to address this offseason.”
It has already been hinted that the Ravens want to improve at the running back position and have been linked to several key free agents.
Kay believes, “With defensive tackle Justin Madubuike, guard Kevin Zeitler, edge Jadeveon Clowney, safety Geno Stone and wideout Odell Beckham Jr. all set to test the market, Baltimore should let Queen walk and use a draft pick to unearth a much cheaper replacement.”
Madubuike himself is due a monster contract north of $80 million according to Spotrac. All of this needs to be done within the limits of the cap.
Currently, the Ravens only have $5.1 million in cap space according to OverTheCap.
DeCosta will need to make some tough cuts or restructures in order to open up more room. However, even with the potential moves it is unlikely he will be able to sign everyone.
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