The Pittsburgh Steelers’ quest to replace Ryan Shazier has finally led them to Patrick Queen, and ultimately reminds Mark Kaboly of their “Shake and Bake” duo with Elandon Roberts as the new Vince Williams. One can only hope that they play at a similarly high level when they take the field later this year.
But Kaboly found himself reminded of that pairing while watching Queen and Roberts run around during OTAs. He mentioned it in a recent article for The Athletic, recounting some of his observations over the last three weeks.
“Patrick Queen likes to talk trash and speak his mind no matter who might be offended. And he’s pretty smart, too,” Kaboly wrote. “Elandon Roberts might be the most underrated player on the roster. He will blow up opposing running backs, linemen, whomever, and loves doing it. I expect Queen and Roberts to be a huge upgrade from what they’ve had at the position in the past. They come across to me as a Vince Williams/Ryan Shazier remake, and that duo worked quite well together.”
The Steelers drafted Shazier in the first round of the 2014 NFL Draft. After some early growing pains and injuries, he developed into an excellent-bordering-on-elite linebacker. He was likely heading to his first All-Pro season when he suffered a career-ending spinal cord injury in 2017.
And Patrick Queen is the first linebacker they have had who promises to be anything like Ryan Shazier. They tried to go down that road with Devin Bush in 2019, even trading up in the first round to get him. That attempt didn’t work, surely hindered by Bush’s ACL injury in 2020, but they had to move on.
The Steelers have generally relied more on free agency to find answers. They signed Elandon Roberts and Cole Holcomb in free agency just last year, for example. A major injury suffered by Holcomb, though, led to them pursuing Queen this offseason.
The Steelers made their splash in free agency this past March with that signing, in fact. They agreed to a three-year, $41 million contract with Queen, the largest deal they’ve given to an outside free agent. He is coming off of his first All-Pro season — signing over from the Baltimore Ravens.
The Ravens drafted Queen in the first round of the 2020 NFL Draft. Once they traded for Roquan Smith in 2022, however, the writing was on the wall. They signed Smith to the largest contract for an off-ball linebacker in NFL history, averaging $20 million per season.
Many thought that Queen would get more than he got from the Steelers. But he claims that he left millions on the table in order to come here over other options. Staying in Baltimore likely wasn’t one of those options, given the Smith deal. They used their resources this offseason instead to retain DL Justin Madubuike.
But Patrick Queen will have the next three years at least to prove the Ravens wrong via AFC North combat. He is already feeling like Pittsburgh is a better place for him than Baltimore. He also knows that the Steelers brought him here to fill Ryan Shazier’s shoes. Kaboly thinks he is already looking the part in the early goings. But what will it look like in September — or in January?
