Seattle Seahawks get a huge favor from the Ravens ahead of free agency

Maybe the Baltimore Ravens just wanted to be nice and give former Ravens DC and new Seattle Seahawks head coach Mike Macdonald a parting gift. Seattle general manager John Schneider must have looked at what the Ravens did and immediately said to Jamal Adams, Quandre Diggs, and Will Dissly, "Thanks, but you gotta go." Obviously, by pure accident, Baltimore gave Seattle a favor this week.

This is because Baltimore chose to franchise tag defensive lineman Justin Madubuike and not linebacker Patrick Queen. Sure, one could make the argument that with Madubuike off the market, Seattle will have a tougher time bringing back Leonard Williams because Williams will be even more cherished by teams needing defensive line help. But Seattle needs a good linebacker more than they need Williams currently.

Seattle has zero veteran linebackers under contract for 2024 ahead of free agency. Bobby Wagner is still capable of greatness but Macdonald might want his defense to get younger. Devin Bush should not be brought back for any reason. Jordyn Brooks would be a fantastic re-signing, though.

Seattle Seahawks have a good chance of signing linebacker Patrick Queen

But signing Patrick Queen would be a huge win for the Seahawks this offseason. He would be the green dot on Macdonald's defense and has worked under Macdonald for the last two seasons when Macdonald was Baltimore's DC. Queen is an excellent player (he was a Second-Team All-Pro in 2024) who tackles extremely well and is fast enough to snuff out any run play but, maybe most importantly, he would be able to help Macdonald implement his scheme and get the other defensive players to understand what needs to be done.

The dream scenario, of course, would be to somehow re-sign Brooks and also sign Queen. This would give Seattle two players in the mid-20s to be the anchor of the Seahawks' defense for the next several seasons. In fact, Brooks and Queen could rival the quality Seattle had when Wagner and K.J. Wright were playing their best.

Seattle still has to be picky with its cap room. The team now has $38,854,305 to spend after releasing Adams, Diggs, and Dissly, according to Spotrac. That is 14th in the league. But some of that money will need to go toward signing safeties and tight ends to fill the spots left by Adams, Diggs, and Dissly.

Because Baltimore placed the franchise tag on Madubuike this makes the Ravens bringing Queen back highly unlikely. Queen might want to follow Macdonald to the Seahawks and Seattle can now afford him. We will know next week when free agency begins what happens.

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