Justin Madubuike expects to reach double-digit sacks again in 2024

The Baltimore Ravens are firm believers and have had numerous coaches and executives go on the record echoing the sentiment “sacks aren’t everything” regarding the most efficient measurement of pass push productivity.

Metrics such as pressure rate and pass rush win rates tell a much more accurate story of the consistency and how disruptive a pass rusher is, but at the end of the day, racking up sacks still gets defenders paid the most and more often.

During the first four years of his NFL career since being drafted in the third round of the 2020 NFL Draft out of Texas A&M, Ravens defensive tackle Justin Madubuike either doubled or more than doubled his sack totals from the previous season. In 2023, he led both the team and all interior defensive linemen in the league with a new career-high 13 sacks on his way to earning Pro Bowl and Second Team All Pro honors.

Madubuike parlayed his breakout campaign into getting a lucrative extension from the Ravens in which he inked a four-year deal worth $98 million which averages out to $24.5 million annually, making him the third-highest-paid player at his position.

There is no way that he will be able to keep up his current pace of doubling his previous season’s sack totals until he retires. Even extending the streak one more year would mean besting the NFL single-season record of 22.5—currently held by Michael Strahan T.J. Watt. However, now that Madubuike has reached double figures in the highly celebrated statistic, he views it as his new norm moving forward.

“It’s definitely double digits for sure. I know I’m that type of player,” Madubuike said Saturday when veterans reported for training camp. “I know I expect highly of myself, and I have to hold myself to that standard.”

Despite receiving a big payday four months ago, his mindset hasn’t changed and he remains just as hungry as he has been throughout his career if not even more so now that the Ravens have made such a significant investment in him.

“I just stay present. I just stay in the moment. I always have to understand that. I always have to put the work in to get the results that I want to get,” Madubuike said. “I try to stay true to that and just focus on the little things like sleep, diet [and] nutrition. Little things that I can … just as little pebbles that just add up over time. I try to focus on those things, and I know putting in the work that will check that list off. Just doing the little things well throughout camp and throughout the season and just adding up at the end goal.”

Becoming one of the highest-paid players in the league at their respective position can put a lot of pressure on a player in addition to heightened expectations for the foreseeable future. Madubuike claims he doesn’t feel any added pressure but is well aware of how he will be viewed by opposing teams’ offensive coaching staffs from here on out.

“Teams are definitely going to be maybe blocking me different,” Madubuike said. “[I’m] expecting different ways that they’re going to try to slow me down. I guess you could say pressure in terms of pressuring myself to stay polished and stay focused and stay better than I was last year. That’s the only pressure I feel. Outside of that it’s just expectations, and the world will keep working.”

Coming into the league and especially during his breakout season last year, Madubuike was drawing lofty comparisons to future Hall of Famer Aaron Donald, a player he has long admired and even modeled his game after to an extent. Following his retirement this offseason and with Chris Jones of the Kansas City Chiefs in the twilight of his career, the mantle of best defense tackle in the league will be up for debate starting in 2024.

In his final two years in the league, Donald failed to record double-digit sacks with five in 11 games in 2022 and eight in 16 games in 2023 after reaching double figures in the previous five straight. Nevertheless, he still earned Pro Bowl honors in both seasons and was a First Team All Pro selection for the eighth time in his career in 2023.

To even be likened and have his game compared to an all-time talent such as Donald is a tremendous honor Madubuike doesn’t take lightly and aspires to achieve because it would mean he too could be considered an all-time great someday.

“I guess you could say year after year after year, I’ve gotten better, and it’s been working,” Madubuike said. “I have a long way to go to even be mentioned in the same sentence as him in terms of play, but I’m determined and willing and just going to take it one day at a time.”