The Baltimore Ravens declined to pick up Patrick Queen's fifth-year option. That doesn't mean the team intends to move on from the linebacker after his contract is up at the end of the 2023 NFL season. Baltimore hopes to ink Queen to a new contract, according to Ravens General Manager Eric Decosta.
Queen is in the Ravens' future plans, even after the team signed linebacker Roquan Smith to a massive contract and selected Trenton Simpson in the third round of the 2023 NFL Draft.
“People want to jump to conclusions [and say], ‘Oh [Simpson] is going to replace Patrick,'” DeCosta said on “The Lounge” podcast. “I can tell you this. Patrick Queen had a helluva year last year. Patrick Queen is a very talented, in my mind, Pro Bowl-type linebacker. He's going to have a great year this year.
“We want Patrick Queen on this team; we want to keep him on this team. We will, at some point, try to get him signed, hopefully, to an extension if we can.”
The Ravens took Queen with the No. 28 overall pick in the 2020 draft. He finished third in the 2020 Defensive Rookie of the Year voting. In the 2022 season, Queen set career highs with 117 tackles, 5.0 sacks, six passes defended and two interceptions.
Queen is set to make a $2.268 million base salary in 2023. The linebackers' fifth-year option would've cost the Ravens $12.7 million in the 2024 season.
“The fifth-year option was something that was more based on business and the salary-cap economics than actually Patrick Queen and his performance and what he does as a player,” DeCosta said.
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