Patrick Queen isn’t waiting to take a leadership role with the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Fresh off signing with the team, the former Baltimore Ravens linebacker met with Pittsburgh media earlier today and said that he plans on making his voice heard early and often.
“I think that should be Day 1,” Queen said, via the Steelers’ YouTube channel, when asked when he expects to assume a leadership role with the defense. “That’s why I came here just to be that guy.”
With a season-ending leg injury sustained last November potentially keeping starting linebacker Cole Holcomb out of the picture early in the 2024 season, the Steelers will need him to be that guy.
While Elandon Roberts did a great job wearing the green dot and communicating to the defense when injuries decimated Pittsburgh’s linebacker corps, the role was originally Holcomb. Now, it’s expected that Queen will fill that void, assuming a leadership position.
Luckily, Queen embraces that role.
“So I just think it’s just going to be a natural fit,” Queen said. “I don’t think I gotta force anything. I don’t think I gotta step out of my comfort zone to be anything else besides what I am now. So I think that it’s just going to naturally flow.”
Queen went on to say that he looks forward to playing with the likes of Cameron Heyward, T.J. Watt and Minkah Fitzpatrick to make their lives easier.
“Whatever I need to do to help those guys, line up whatever it is, whatever situation… It’s my job to come in here and help those guys,” he said.
Adding a 24-year-old linebacker who has first-round pick pedigree and is fresh off a Pro Bowl appearance certainly figures to help Pittsburgh’s stars and the Steelers as a whole this season — and beyond.
Just is more important, it will hurt their interdivisional rival.
