Ravens place franchise tag on DL Justin Madubuike

The Ravens guarantee DL Justin Madubuike will be a Raven in 2024.

The two week deadline has arrived for NFL clubs to designate players on the franchise tag and with it comes the Baltimore Ravens placing the franchise tag on defensive lineman Justin Madubuike.

It was highly anticipated that the Ravens would do so with Madubuike if a long-term deal would not be reached by the 4 p.m. ET deadline on March 5. With a deal unlikely to be inked by such deadline, the Ravens have placed the tag.

With the tag being official, so too does the 2024 cap hit for Madubuike; the Ravens will now pay Madubuike $22.556 million for one season, all guaranteed. As such, the Ravens go from having $12.536 million in cap space to being $10.02 million over the cap, wiping out their cap space and forcing them to make some tough moves as they must get under the cap, gain enough money to participate in free agency, afford their rookie class and have something left over for in-season moves.

However, the tag isn’t a set-in-stone situation. Rather, it gives the two sides a longer time to negotiate a long-term deal. The Ravens and Madubuike have until July 15 to instead come to an agreement and circumvent the tag. Which, could be beneficial down the road, but the benefits of a long-term deal would’ve been much greater prior to free agency, which kicks off later this month.

The Ravens do have options if they want to go the cut route to free up cap space, as we here named four players the Ravens will consider parting ways with to free up $23.33 million. However, parting will the likes of right tackle Morgan Moses and left tackle Ronnie Stanley would create more holes the Ravens will need to fill if that’s the case.

But in getting back to the original topic, the Ravens keep their star interior rusher for the 2024 season. This is beneficial for Baltimore as Madubuike now has a “prove-it” year to demonstrate his production in 2023 wasn’t as a result of those around him (Jadeveon Clowney, Kyle Van Noy) or the scheming of pressure from Defensive Coordinator Mike Macdonald. If Madubuike once more dominates in 2024, the Ravens will have no reason but to sign him to a super-sized long-term deal. If he regresses, that deal may come in a bit lower in the millions. Either way, a foundational block for the Ravens in 2024 is secure for new Defensive Coordinator Zach Orr to work with as the Ravens hope to return to the AFC Championship this season.