diff --git a/sys/dev/nvme/nvme_qpair.c b/sys/dev/nvme/nvme_qpair.c
--- a/sys/dev/nvme/nvme_qpair.c
+++ b/sys/dev/nvme/nvme_qpair.c
@@ -1173,10 +1173,14 @@
 		return;
 	}
 
+	/*
+	 * Once the tracker is on the outstanding_tr list, it must have a valid
+	 * timeout, so set it to the max until we find out what the actual
+	 * deadline is to avoid false positive timeouts due to stale values.
+	 */
+	tr->deadline = SBT_MAX;
 	TAILQ_REMOVE(&qpair->free_tr, tr, tailq);
 	TAILQ_INSERT_TAIL(&qpair->outstanding_tr, tr, tailq);
-	if (!qpair->timer_armed)
-		tr->deadline = SBT_MAX;
 	tr->req = req;
 
 	switch (req->type) {