The Pittsburgh Steelers made their first big splash into the legal tampering period on Tuesday when they reportedly agreed to terms with LB Patrick Queen. Signing a big-ticket free agent who doesn’t turn 25 until August is a pretty big deal. It’s even bigger when you grab him from your biggest rivals, the Baltimore Ravens.
However, some have some concerns about how well Queen will fare outside of Baltimore. Eric Eager, vice president of SumerSports, joined Brian Batko of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on Tuesday’s episode of the Chipped Ham and Football podcast. The discussion kicked off with the signing.
“He’s a former first-round pick who had his struggles,” Eager said. “And then they brought in a guy like Roquan Smith to kind of help him out, and Patrick Queen was able to shine… Can he thrive in a linebacker group where he is going to have to be the top guy now? He struggled in that role in Baltimore. Can he emerge? He’s still a young guy.”
When the Ravens took Queen 28th overall in the 2020 NFL Draft, they evidently had high expectations for him. To his credit, he has started every single game since he entered the league. He has also been consistent, totaling at least 100 tackles in three of his four seasons and at least nine tackles for a loss. He has also had 13.5 sacks in four seasons as an off-ball linebacker and not a true pass rusher.
Yet Queen arguably didn’t come into his own until the Ravens acquired Roquan Smith midway through the 2022 season from the Chicago Bears. Queen had five sacks and two interceptions in 2022, both career-highs. He then followed that up with 133 total tackles in 2023, also a career-high, while making his first Pro Bowl.
Eager thinks that by going to Pittsburgh, Patrick Queen will “have to be the everything, everywhere, all-at-once guy” because there is no other standout inside linebacker. Elandon Roberts had a good season in 2023, eclipsing the 100-total-tackle mark for only the second time in his career while also tying his career-high of 10 tackles for a loss.
So will Queen have to be the top dog in the Steelers’ inside linebacker room? Eager thinks so, and the Steelers likely do as well. That does concern Eager, but the Steelers did not commit a crazy amount of money or cap space to him. So, if there are struggles, they aren’t tied down long-term.
As Eager notes, Patrick Queen is still quite young at only 24 years old at the time of signing. He’s had a chance to grow and learn from his early time in Baltimore. He’s shown that he can make plays behind the line of scrimmage consistently, which is only a positive for the Steelers.
You can watch the entirety of Eager’s conversation with Batko below:
