A system and method for predictive congestion detection for network devices is provided. A routing engine associated with an input of a router receives congestion information from an output, utilizing the received congestion information to initialize a congestion value associated with that output. Between receipt of updated congestion information from the output, the routing engine predicts a potential change in the congestion state at the output based on the congestion value and information regarding usage of the output that is known to the routing engine.