Ravens linebacker Patrick Queen is 'ready to be unleashed' after offseason of angst (2024)

It wasn’t the Baltimore Ravens declining to pick up the fifth-year option on his rookie contract, making him eligible for free agency next year, that initially set Patrick Queen off. The Ravens using a third-round pick on his potential replacement, Clemson’s Trenton Simpson, didn’t push Queen closer to the breaking point, either.

The damage had already been done earlier in the offseason when talks with Queen about a potential contract extension broke off amid a difference of opinion on how much it should cost.

“There were talks and then some stuff fell through,” Queen said recently. “Obviously, you get upset. I’m probably going to be gone. That’s, at least, what I was thinking in my head. I’m thinking that I’m gone. Everybody reacts out of emotion to certain things.”

Queen conceded to some of his teammates that his days as a Raven were likely over. He was already preparing for that reality. It felt inevitable, so why hide from it?

He then began to distance himself from the team by doing what some of today’s professional athletes do when they’re disenchanted with their employer. He scrubbed his social media accounts of any evidence that he even plays for the Ravens.

“You scrub it, just one, for the comments,” Queen said. “And then you scrub it because you’re probably going to be gone.”

Queen speaks almost matter-of-factly now about his offseason of uncertainty and discontent. If there are any lingering hard feelings about the breakdown in contract talks, declining his fifth-year option and drafting Simpson, he’s doing a really good job of disguising them. He’s been all smiles since he reported to team headquarters in July.

Throughout training camp, there was a calmness about Queen after his initial emotional storm earlier in the offseason. There was also a palpable feeling of satisfaction, not only with where he is but also with what he believes he can do when the regular season starts Sunday for the Ravens against the Houston Texans at M&T Bank Stadium.

The 24-year-old is coming off the best training camp of his young career. He played with urgency, physicality and joy. He added more polish to the rapport he shares with his middle linebacker running mate, Roquan Smith. Even though this wasn’t his intention, he sent a clear message to his teammates and coaches that he’s all-in on this season, even if his future in Baltimore is very much murky.

“I think we’ve seen in the NFL now — a lot of teams are dealing with it — these players that are holding in, or they’re not showing up, or they’re holding out, or they’re unhappy, or they’re spouting off publicly,” Ravens general manager Eric DeCosta said last week. “Patrick’s just a guy that shows up to work every single day. He’s a very, very talented player. Very, very selfless, beloved by his teammates. He’s a leader, and we expect him to have a great season.”

If you asked different Ravens to identify some players who stood out this summer, it wasn’t long before Queen’s name came up. DeCosta called Queen a “gem.” Ravens coach John Harbaugh described the fourth-year inside linebacker as “locked in.” Inside linebacker coach Zachary Orr said he’s never seen Queen so focused.

“He’s ready to be unleashed,” Orr said.

Smith wasn’t acquired by Baltimore until last Halloween and didn’t have a relationship with Queen before he arrived. Yet, he has noticed a drastic change in the roughly 11 months they’ve known each other.

“He has a tremendous mindset,” Smith said. “For the guy to just turn 24 years old and to see how mature he’s become even since I met him last year, I’ve been truly impressed. I think he’s handling it like a pro. At the end of the day, and I’ve told him this many times, you can’t worry about things outside your control. Just focus on the things that you can control and that’s what you do on the field, what you do in the classroom and how you are around your teammates. He has the mindset of whatever he wants for himself, he can achieve it.”

When he played his first professional game in 2020 as a first-round pick, Queen had just turned 21 years old a few weeks earlier. He’s the seventh-youngest player to ever debut in the NFL. He acknowledged that patience and maturity are the two qualities he’s gained most over his first three years in the league.

Both served him well, as did the counsel of close family and friends as he navigated a difficult offseason.

“I’m just comfortable,” he said. “I’m taking it day by day, just enjoying life. It’s a blessing to be here. It’s a blessing to be able to play this game. I’m going out there with the guys every day and just getting better and trying to be great. I’m trying to be someone who they can lean on. I’m just trying to be the best person I can be, honestly.”

Selected with the No. 28 pick in 2020, Queen has started all 50 of his regular-season games for Baltimore. He’s been extremely durable and productive, amassing 321 tackles, 10 sacks, three interceptions, four forced fumbles, five fumble recoveries and a defensive touchdown. He’s one of only three NFL players to have at least 300 tackles, three interceptions and 10 sacks since 2020. Smith and Bobby Wagner are the other two.

Yet, he remains one of the Ravens’ most polarizing players. Some of that is beyond his control. Inside linebacker, the old home of Ray Lewis, is a glamour position in Baltimore. Expectations for those who play it, particularly if you’re a first-round pick who starred on a national champion at LSU, are immense.

Not only was Queen one of the league’s youngest players when he broke in, but he was also green from a football standpoint. He started only 16 games in three college seasons and didn’t become a full-time starter until his final year in Baton Rouge. He also didn’t play much of the Mike linebacker position at LSU, but that’s initially what he was asked to do as a rookie starter on a veteran Baltimore defense.

“I still wasn’t mature enough with the position I was in,” he said. “Thankfully, the Ravens drafted me and I was able to learn from the Ravens. I’ve been surrounded by a lot of good people, and I just learned and became more patient. It was definitely hard to learn, especially with the situation I went through at college. Just having so much quick success with the (2019) season and getting drafted in the first round and immediately becoming a starter.

“You want to make every play. You want to make everybody proud and just be the guy. But I had to learn you just can’t make every play. Sometimes, you have to just do your job and plays are going to come. Sometimes, by doing your job, it helps other people make plays.”

What Queen has been able to control is his consistency, and that’s the area that has drawn the most scrutiny. For every splash play, like a sack or tackle for loss, there are instances where he gets caught up in the wash, overruns a play or misses a tackle. His issues in coverage have been well-documented, too.

To his credit, Queen isn’t in denial about some of the challenges he’s faced as a young player. He’s sparred plenty with critics on social media and seems to enjoy the give-and-take, but there have been times when Queen has “liked” a tweet critical of him. That’s his way of conceding that the criticism is fair and even accurate.

He knows when he’s messed up, and the feeling of letting down his teammates and coaches stings and motivates far more than the words of an often anonymous social media poster anyway. He’s still driven by a missed assignment in Week 8 of his rookie season that contributed to a home loss against the Pittsburgh Steelers.

The Steelers were in the red zone and ran tight end crossing routes. Queen followed a guy on a vertical route up the seam, leaving Pittsburgh’s Eric Ebron all alone crossing the field. Ebron waltzed in untouched for an 18-yard touchdown. The Ravens blew a 10-point second-half lead and lost 28-24.

“It cost us the game and then it affects your playoff spot,” Queen said.

It also fueled Queen’s passion to improve his pass coverage. Last season, Pro Football Focus credited Queen for allowing a career-high 64 receptions. But he also posted career lows in passer rating against (92.2) and yards per reception (9.6), and career highs in interceptions (two) and pass breakups (three). His missed tackle percentage (13.5) also was a career low and helped him avoid giving up a litany of big plays.

“I think understanding split coverage, that’s been the biggest thing,” he said. “A lot of times I was so keyed in on knowing where (the slotback) was, and not truly knowing if we were playing backside, or how the nickel was playing it or how the corner was playing it. Just only knowing certain pieces. That’s why last year, you could see when I was playing Mike, the ball wasn’t being thrown on the hash or in the middle or on my side. I was putting a stop to that stuff.”

Last year’s arrival of Smith helped fuel some of the best football of Queen’s young career. It also may have accelerated his exit out of Baltimore. The former is probably harder to explain than the latter.

Queen had started to turn his season around before Smith arrived in time to play a Week 9 game against the New Orleans Saints. With Smith lining up alongside him, things were seemingly simplified for Queen. He didn’t have to worry about covering as much ground or being in on every play. It also helped to be able to watch how Smith, one of the league’s most cerebral players, studies, prepares and communicates.

“I think the difference in bringing Roquan in was instead of having one backer who can really fly, you have two,” Queen said. “When you get a guy who has 120, 130, 140 tackles a year, you get a playmaker, an All-Pro guy. It makes you want to raise your game. It makes you want to be great. It makes you want to be better than him, and I say that on a really respectful level. Just to be able to work alongside him, and see how he approaches his game, see how he studies the game, it’s just truly special.”

Queen and Smith are considered one of the better inside linebacker duos in the league. They talked all offseason, and there’s an understanding that the goal is not to be “one of the better duos.” It’s to be the undisputed best.

“Every time I see him post something on social media, I’m like, ‘Bro, we’ve got to let people know exactly who we are and leave no doubt on exactly how good we are,’” Smith said. “‘We’ve got to prove that week in and week out, and it can’t just be a one-game wonder, two games, three games. We’ve got to do that for 17 consecutive weeks, and then when the postseason comes, do it each and every week in the postseason as well.’”

Said Queen: “If I bring my game to the next level, I think we’ll solidify that.”

In January, the Ravens rewarded Smith with a five-year, $100 million extension, making him the highest-paid player in the league at his position. The deal didn’t preclude them from paying Queen, but it would make it extremely difficult. Inside linebacker is not considered a premium position, and paying two guys at or near the top of the market would be extremely prohibitive, particularly with quarterback Lamar Jackson now on the books for years to come.

That doesn’t mean the Ravens have ruled out paying Queen. They’ve made it clear to him that they haven’t. But if he’s looking to be paid as a top-five inside linebacker, which comes with a starting price point in the neighborhood of $17 million, that deal probably won’t be available in Baltimore. Paying two inside linebackers an excess of $35 million annually would limit the team elsewhere, even with the salary cap expected to rise significantly in coming years.

That reality rankled Queen earlier this offseason, but he’s seemingly come to grips with it now. Teammates noticed a change in his tone when talking about his situation as the offseason progressed. The turning point was in late May when Queen decided to show up at the team’s Under Armour Performance Center to participate in the voluntary organized team activities.

“I got to the point where I was like, ‘Look at who is on your team. Look at how they’re treating you. They’re not about to trade you.’ There were never trade talks or anything,” Queen said, crediting family members and friends for helping him keep things in perspective. “It was always, ‘We believe in you, you’re our guy.’ It just fuels you and it makes you want to play well. Looking at everybody on the team, you have the chance to do something special here. Why not?”

Harbaugh acknowledged that a player in his contract year has the potential to be edgy or distracted. He’s seen the opposite this summer from Queen.

“My expectations for Patrick are to have a stellar season, and it’s only been affirmed by the way he’s practiced, the way he’s carried himself,” Harbaugh said. “He has not been distracted at all. He is locked in on the mission ahead.”

Smith described Queen as “putting more into his actions” and “taking control of his career.” Each training camp practice, Smith and Queen came sprinting out of the building to the part of the field where the inside linebackers were gathering.

“It just shows his maturity,” Orr said. “Obviously, the business side is something we don’t shy away from. I know it. We know it as coaches, and we want these guys to do what’s best for them and their career. But he understands … to get what he wants and to get where he wants to be, he has to come out here and perform, and the best way to do that is to be locked in every single day. He’s done that. He’s taken the right approach about it.”

Queen’s approach is treating playing in a contract year as an opportunity, not a crutch.

“I’m definitely having a ton of fun,” he said. “You know what the whole situation is. Everything is up in the air right now. I’m just trying to cherish the moment while I’m here.”

(Top photo: Mitchell Leff / Getty Images)