It sounds like Justin Madubuike isn’t leaving Baltimore this offseason.
Ravens General Manager Eric DeCosta said he plans to place the franchise tag on the pending free agent defensive tackle if a long-term deal isn’t reached before March 5, the deadline to apply the tag.
“We probably will, yes,” DeCosta said during his Tuesday press conference at the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis.
The Ravens have until March 5 (a week away) to reach a long-term deal with Madubuike before they would need to place the tag on him. If they place the tag on him, Baltimore would still have until July 15 to hammer out a long-term deal, but they would have to make salary-cap space for the tag before then.
The franchise tag would cost the Ravens $22.1 million against the salary cap, which would require more cap-clearing moves. The Ravens currently have $16.6 million in salary cap space, per Over The Cap. Baltimore must be under the cap when free agency opens on March 13.
The preference would be to strike a deal, which would come with a small Year 1 salary-cap hit and mean less money shuffling and more ability to retain or bring in other free agents. DeCosta said the two sides are working on that, and negotiations could take place at the Combine.
“We’re trying to get a deal done. We’ve had discussions with Justin,” DeCosta said. “He’s a guy that has obviously put himself in a fortuitous position this year by the way that he played. He had a great season for us. He’s a valued player on the team and hopefully we can get a long-term deal done.”
Madubuike led the Ravens and all defensive linemen with 13 sacks last season. He has continuously gotten better, and at least doubled his sack total each of his four seasons. Madubuike had 33 quarterback hits and was named to his first Pro Bowl.
