Ravens news: Rookie linebacker Patrick Queen signed

The Ravens have come to terms with their top pick from the 2020 NFL Draft, linebacker Patrick Queen, the team announced on Wednesday.

Check off another player from the Baltimore Ravens‘ must-sign list.

Rookie linebacker Patrick Queen, Baltimore’s top pick from the 2020 NFL Draft, inked his rookie contract, according to an announcement from the team’s website on Wednesday. While the exact details of Queen’s contract are yet to be revealed, he’ll be fully under contract for the next four years with the automatic fifth-year option worked into the deal for players selected in Round 1 of the draft.

With Queen now under contract, Baltimore now has nine of its 10 total selections from last April’s draft signed. The only outlier is wide receiver Devin Duvernay whom the team selected in Round 3.

What Ravens want out of Patrick Queen

Queen, the LSU standout who recorded 85 total tackles, three sacks and an interception during the Tigers’ run to the national championship, will compete for a starting job in training camp alongside the Ravens’ other drafted linebacker addition, Malik Harrison, as well as veteran backer L.J. Fort. Linebacker was viewed as one of Baltimore’s biggest offseason needs, made more apparent by the team focusing other efforts in free agency to bolster the defensive line, namely the offseason addition of veteran defensive tackle Calais Campbell.

Campbell and Queen are intended to form a new anchor-point tandem for the Ravens’ defensive front seven, which looks to move away a bit from the prevalence of blitzing the team used so heavily last season.

Queen is adept in this facet, sure. But he’s exceptional as a run stopper and coverage guy, as those latter two traits are becoming much more vital in today’s offensive-driven league.

Despite being on the smaller side — 6-foot-2 and 229 pounds — Queen is expected to showcase those dynamic athletic traits that made him such a worthy commodity to LSU’s defense a year ago. And while Queen won’t be helped by the lack of offseason workouts, thanks to the current pandemic, one can hope he’ll at least acclimate effectively enough to defensive coordinator Don Martindale’s system without too much difficulty.

Getting Queen signed before training camp kicks off later this month was vital for Baltimore’s defense. Considering the lack of in-person minicamps and organized team activities, Queen will need to catch up to speed quickly. Not having him under contract would have created numerous problems affecting his early development.

No longer.

Now, all that’s left to do for Baltimore is round out the NFL Draft rookie signings by inking Duvernay.