Ahead of their Week 4 game, the Ravens placed Nnamdi Madubuike on injured reserve. At the time, it remained unclear how long the Pro Bowl defensive tackle would be absent. 
When speaking to the media on Monday (video link), head coach John Harbaugh revealed a return will not be taking place. Madubuike’s neck injury will leave him sidelined for the remainder of the campaign. Today’s news marks a major blow to a defense which exited Sunday with a number of high-profile injuries.
Madubuike has spent his entire career in Baltimore after entering the league in 2020. The former third-rounder emerged as an impactful player along the defensive front while playing out his rookie contract, and the franchise tag was used last offseason to ensure a free agent departure would not take place. In the end, team and player worked out a four-year, $98MM deal.
That monster pact fell in line with the surging defensive tackle market and cemented Madubuike’s status as a foundational player for the Ravens moving forward. The 27-year-old posted his third consecutive season without any missed games in 2024. Instead of that being the case once more this year, however, he will turn his attention to a lengthy recovery process. The Ravens will now move forward with a depleted D-tackle group.
Fellow starter Broderick Washington is on injured reserve, and Sunday marked the first of at least four games he will miss as a result. Travis Jones was also inactive yesterday, leading to a defensive front comprised entirely of backups against Kansas City. That setup may prove to be necessary moving forward, depending on Jones’ status. Baltimore has veterans John Jenkins and Brent Urban, along with sixth-round rookie Aeneas Peebles, in line to handle an increased workload the rest of the way.
Those depth options will not be able to replace Madubuike’s impact against the pass, however. The Texas A&M product earned second-team All-Pro honors with 13 sacks in 2023. He followed that up with 6.5 last year, leading to a second straight Pro Bowl nod. Madubuike notched a pair of sacks this year prior to being injured in Week 2.
While his attention will now turn to recovery, the 1-3 Ravens will aim to rebound on defense. Baltimore leads the league in points allowed, but making needed improvements will be challenging without Madubuike in the picture.
Yikes. Sad and amazed how fast Baltimore’s season has gone so wrong.
Just hope it’s not going to affect him long term it was awesome watching him breakout during the past season
With the way they have been so cryptic with the messaging and not stating what the injury is, I am pretty sure this is the end of his career. Something akin to Zach Orr went through.
Somehow the Lions survived last year when their defense was decimated
Thats cause the Lions have a goated O Line and an Offense that puts up alot of Points!!!
It’s because the lions QB can run a more complicated offense than Georgia tech does. Lamarginal shuts down when people can shut down the run game. Look at his “hamstring” injury the moment it got hard for the ravens. People actually vote this guy for an MVP.
I made the same comment when he came out of the game. He didn’t take a nasty hit, he didn’t get up slow, he wasn’t limping or grimacing, the only thing I saw him do was throw his little tantrum like he always does when things don’t go his way, toss his helmet and start mean mugging. I didn’t see any trainer rush over to see him, and then they wrap his leg and take him out of the game because his ego was taking too much of a hit. He didn’t want to be embarrassed like that AGAIN by the Chiefs.
This man is not a leader. When the going gets tough, Lamar gets going….out of the game. When the games get tough and get put on the line, he chokes, and the team follows suit.