Ravens Free Agents Following Mike Macdonald to Seahawks?
Mike Macdonald helped orchestrate the best defenses in football as the Baltimore Ravens defensive coordinator, which helped him land a head coaching job with the Seattle Seahawks.
Now, some of the players who helped lead Macdonald's defense could be following him to the Pacific Northwest. ESPN reported that there has been speculation of players following Macdonald ahead of the tampering period beginning on Monday at noon, and three players who could make that move are linebacker Patrick Queen, defensive end Jadeveon Clowney and safety Geno Stone.
Geno Stone and Patrick Queen.
"I've heard a lot of speculation about which (if any) Ravens defensive free agents could follow former Baltimore defensive coordinator Mike Macdonald to Seattle now that he's the head coach of the Seahawks," ESPN writes. "In order of likelihood, based on conversations with my sources, I'd rank them as follows in terms of chances to land in Seattle: Patrick Queen, Jadeveon Clowney [and] Geno Stone."
It was always going to be difficult for Baltimore to keep all of its free agents, especially given its cap space situation. OverTheCap has the Ravens as $180,381 over the cap after signing defensive tackle Justin Madubuike to a new contract, meanwhile, the Seahawks have just over $42 million in cap space.
Stone had a career year in 2023 with seven interceptions, the second-most in the league. Clowney also had a career resurgence in his first season in Baltimore with 9.5 sacks, the second-most of his career. Queen had a career-high 133 tackles last season.
Together, Queen, Stone and Clowney helped anchor a Macdonald defense that led the league in sacks (60), allowed the fewest points per game (16.5), and was tied for the league lead in turnovers (31).
With the Ravens' cap constraints, it feels like a formality all three could be going elsewhere. For the sake of Macdonald having a good first season as a head coach, that trio heading to Seattle makes plenty of sense for all parties involved. And for the Ravens, those three players going to the NFC as opposed to staying in the conference or even in the division should be viewed as a win for them.
