The Pittsburgh Steelers made franchise history on Tuesday with the addition of former Ravens ILB Patrick Queen. Known for building through the draft and developing from within, the Steelers normally prefer lower-level deals in free agency. But what they did this year is go out and fill a position of need with the top free agent available.
This completes the Steelers’ front seven in a way that should pay dividends for the team in 2024 and beyond. Good Morning Football’s Jason McCourty discussed this move on Wednesday morning’s episode of the show.
“The addition of Patrick Queen is huge because in the middle of that defense you have Cole Holcomb. On one side you have Patrick Queen, and on the outside you have [Alex] Highsmith, you have [T.J.] Watt, you have [Cam] Heyward, and [Larry] Ogunjobi in the middle,” McCourty said. “So you have defensively now a front seven that can compete with anybody.”
The Steelers have had one of the highest-paid defenses in the league for a few years now, and the addition of Queen only makes that more apparent. Particularly in the front seven. Watt and Highsmith are the second-highest paid edge-rushing tandem in the league behind the Los Angeles Chargers, who are currently shopping both of their edge defenders. Queen will pair with last year’s free agent additions in Holcomb and Elandon Roberts to form a strong three-person rotation once Holcomb is medically cleared to return from a significant knee injury.
Heyward had a down year in 2023, battling through a groin injury and a knee issue that both required cleanup surgery after the season. He tweeted following those surgeries, “Done doing stuff on 1 leg that guys were doing on 2 legs lol Can’t wait to get back to myself.” So while he may be 35 by the time next season starts, expect a much-improved Heyward for what could be his final season in the league.
Ogunjobi is entering his third year with the team, and while his production was underwhelming a year ago, he will be next to Keeanu Benton, who showed a lot of promise in his rookie season.
This will only help a secondary that is in transition with Joey Porter Jr. and Minkah Fitzpatrick headlining the group. The Steelers also just acquired CB Donte Jackson in a trade with the Carolina Panthers and will likely look to add another young piece in the draft. The front seven will make things easier on the group as quarterbacks cannot hold onto the ball for long.
Best laid plans can fail as the Steelers learned last season with their inside linebacker group, but they will enter the year with as solid of a group as they have had in the last decade.
