The Houston Texans own the fourth-most cap space entering free agency and that's a lot of spending money for them to play around with. Armed with $70 million and a young, promising franchise quarterback, don't be surprised to see the Texans as an intriguing landing spot for several key free agents.
We've already heard plenty about how Saquon Barkley is interested in joining C.J. Stroud and the Texans but now there's another promising free agent who is also wanting to rock the blue and red in 2024. Ravens linebacker Patrick Queen is reportedly interested in joining the Texans and the feeling is mutual from Houston's side.
ESPN reports that Ravens ILB Patrick Queen and the Texans have shared interest
— Kevin Oestreicher (@koestreicher34) March 6, 2024
"Houston could focus on Ravens LB Patrick Queen, who played with Texans CB Derek Stingley Jr. at LSU. Queen was second-team All-Pro last season, and there's some interest between the two parties" pic.twitter.com/PFBw679nF9
Could Patrick Queen be a good fit for the Texans?
The Ravens selected Queen with a late first-round pick in the 2020 NFL Draft. The linebacker has started every game since entering the league and has had over 100 tackles in three of his four NFL seasons. The one year he didn't get to the 100 tackle mark, he missed it by two tackles. The Texans have a defensive-minded head coach in DeMeco Ryans who would love to have a tackling machine like Queen on his team.
Solid linebackers are hard to find so it won't be cheap to sign Queen if the Texans go that direction. Queen is projected to earn a five-year deal worth $92.6 million with an annual salary of $18.5 million, per Spotrac. The Texans have the money to make this happen and Queen would help their young defense thrive. He finished the 2023 season with PFF grades in the green (which is good) in everything except run defense, which was slightly below at 64.8.
If Queen is interested in joining the Texans, this is hopefully a deal that can get done.