I will not play again:Sad news for Baltimore Ravens

admin | December 2, 2023 | Baltimore Ravens | No Comments

Report: Justin Madubuike turned down an extension offer from the Ravens.

Based on their weekly performance, the Baltimore Ravens defense is playing near-historic levels of dominance in the NFL this season.

As an illustration, the Flock leads the NFL with an absurd 47 sacks through Week 12, despite missing their two starters from last August’s summer camp, Odafe Oweh and David Ojabo, for almost the whole season.

Defensive coordinator Mike Macdonald must be considering Justin Madubuike as a perfect fit for his scheme, as he is a major player in this development.

In case you missed it, Madubuike recorded his tenth sack of the season on Sunday, making history as the first Raven to do so since Jalen Suggs broke the double-digit sack barrier in 2017.

But as the season draws to an end and spring of 2019 approaches, Madubuike’s future with the Ravens is, to put it mildly, hazy at best.

On his podcast, ESPN’s Adam Schefter disclosed (via Sarah Ellis) that Baltimore “put on a press” to sign Justin Madubuike in the summer of last year. Entering his final year of a contract, the defender, however, “rolled the dice and bet on himself,” and based on his play, it appears that the gamble is paying off.

Together with inside linebacker Patrick Queen and defensive back Geno Stone, Justin Madubuike is regarded as one of the Ravens’ must-extend free agents heading into the upcoming campaign.

It is anticipated that Baltimore will keep one of those three players (via franchise tag or by directly signing that player to a new contract), but the Ravens’ chances of keeping any of the other two, much less the trio, are quite slim.

Although Madubuike’s initial rejection of the Ravens doesn’t necessarily indicate that he is adamant and has decided to leave Baltimore, the Ravens front office will undoubtedly need to take this as a serious warning about the amount of money he will demand when we approach free agency in a few months.

Making history with the Ravens, Justin Madubuike enters the concussion protocol

The defense flew to Los Angeles and put the clamps on a home team that could come up with no answers for a strong defensive unit that helped Baltimore earn a solid 20-10 win. The Ravens may have left half of their offense in Baltimore for their Sunday Night Football matchup against the Chargers.

To cap off an outstanding team effort, Baltimore forced and recovered three fumbles, picked off Justin Herbert once at the end of the first half, and held the Chargers offense to just 279 yards on the day.

Justin Madubuike shares crazy story from first days in Baltimore

The Los Angeles crowd was treated to some individual brilliance, though, as Justin Madubuike recorded half a sack and reached 10 sacks overall on his route to becoming the first Ravens player to reach double digits in sacks in a single season since Terrell Suggs (who finished with 11 sacks) in 2017.

In the first half, Baltimore forced three turnovers, but the offense was only able to capitalize on one of those opportunities with a field goal; the other two free possessions were not converted into points. Kyle Hamilton had a fantastic all-around game, and Jadeveon Clowney’s strip sack in the fourth quarter deep in Baltimore territory proved crucial.

But Justin Madubuike deserves extra credit for accomplishing something no Raven had done in the previous five years: recording ten or more sacks in a season.

Nevertheless, not all of the news regarding Beeks is positive. During his post-game press conference, head coach John Harbaugh broke the unfortunate news, stating that the defensive end had been placed in the NFL’s concussion protocol after leaving the game in the fourth quarter.

Considering the Ravens are headed into their bye week and won’t play again until December 10 when they host the visiting Rams in a back-to-back Angeleno span of matchups, hopefully that’s not too concerning.

Justin Madubuike makes Ravens history, enters concussion protocol

When Madubuike and defensive tackle Travis Jones combined to sack Herbert, they each received half a sack, marking Madubuike’s tenth sack of the year. Madubuike’s best season prior to this one was 2022, but even in that year he managed to accumulate just 5.5 sacks over 17 games (16 of which were starts).

Beeks, a former third-round selection of the Ravens, is scheduled to become a free agent in the upcoming offseason, joining defensive mainstays Patrick Queen and Geno Stone as the only other pending free agents on the Ravens roster.

It’s anticipated that the Ravens will prioritize signing Madubuike to an extension during the upcoming offseason in an effort to re-sign him, though Baltimore’s plans for the upcoming season and beyond are still unclear. For our part, we can only hope that Beeks continues to fire players while wearing purple and white attire.