Recently, many teams had to make several decisions on players for their fifth-year options for the 2024 season. Several players like Joe Burrow and Justin Herbert were extremely easy decisions to make; like the New York Giants did with Andrew Thomas, picking up his fifth-year option for $14.1 million.
However, there were several players who weren’t so fortunate, as they had their fifth-year option declined. There's a long list, and it has football fans talking quite a bit about things:
14 players officially had their 5th-year options declined:
— Ari Meirov (@MySportsUpdate) May 2, 2023
No. 2: Chase Young
No. 8: Isaiah Simmons
No. 9: C.J. Henderson
No. 11: Mekhi Becton
No. 14: Javon Kinlaw
No. 18: Austin Jackson
No. 20: K'Lavon Chaisson
No. 21: Jalen Reagor
No. 23: Kenneth Murray
No. 24: Cesar Ruiz
No.…
The irony from this was the Washington Commanders were deemed the team to win the “Chase Young sweepstakes" when they landed the No. 2 overall pick and went with the star pass-rusher: a player that at the time many Giants fans were hoping for, and instead dropped to No. 4 with Thomas. Fast forward to three years later and Thomas is the one getting the fifth-year option and Young is the one potentially on his way out of Washington.
A year ago, after his fifth-year option was declined by the Giants, some wondered about the future of Daniel Jones, but he responded with a season that helped guide the Giants to their first postseason berth since 2016. Danny Dimes earned a four-year, $160 million contract.
With all of that said, some of the players who are listed here might not be in their team’s future plans. And if certain teams fall out of playoff races, some of these players could become potential trade chips for a team like the Giants.
4. Ravens LB Patrick Queen
This one stands out a lot because of the previous connections with Patrick Queen and Giants defensive coordinator Wink Martindale. Martindale was the former Ravens defensive coordinator for Queen in his first two seasons before heading to East Rutherford.
Queen knows the defensive system that Martindale runs and had success in it during the first two seasons of his career. Given the fact that the Giants have a question mark at the other middle linebacker spot next to Bobby Okereke, Queen is a very intriguing option if the Ravens were to consider moving him after drafting Trenton Simpson and adding Roquan Smith last season.
In his first three seasons with the Ravens, Queen has been a solid player, as he’s had 106, 98 and 117 total tackles in each season with 10 total sacks; his career high was in 2022 with five. Queen also had two interceptions and two fumble recoveries for the Ravens in 2022
At the moment, Jarrad Davis is penciled in as the other starter next to Okereke in Martindale’s 3-4 defense. Before Davis, it was Jaylon Smith, who seemed to fall out of favor at the end of the year. A reunion of Queen with Martindale in East Rutherford in his pressure-packed defense could be something to look for if the fourth-year veteran is unhappy in Baltimore at all.