The Pittsburgh Steelers made a splash in free agency, bringing over LB Patrick Queen from the division rival Baltimore Ravens, and during his introductory press conference, Queen talked about what attracted him to the Steelers.
“That man standing right there,” Queen via the Steelers YouTube channel, gesturing to head coach Mike Tomlin. “I think just the organization itself, known for winning, known for great defense and they got a bunch of stars over there, I just wanted to come be a part of that, come be that extra piece to try and win again.”
It was quite the opening to the press conference to immediately shout out Tomlin. Queen had some beef with Tomlin as before Pittsburgh met the Ravens in Week 5 last season, Queen recalled a moment during his rookie season when Tomlin told him that he “wasn’t a Raven.” Queen said that was a hint, even though he wanted to fight Tomlin in the moment.
“I think that was a hint, even though I wanted to come fight him then and there,” Queen said about Tomlin’s comment.
Tomlin is routinely voted among the coaches players most want to play for around the league, so it’s little surprise that he was a big reason for Queen choosing Pittsburgh, despite whatever happened between the two during Queen’s rookie season. He also fills a big hole for the Steelers, who haven’t had a lot of success at the inside linebacker position since Ryan Shazier’s career-ending spinal injury in the 2017 season. Last season was Pittsburgh’s best group in awhile at inside linebacker, but season-ending injuries sustained by Cole Holcomb and Kwon Alexander in back-to-back weeks made the position a weakness rather than a strength. Queen’s durability is surely something that drew the Steelers to him as he hasn’t missed a game in his four-year career.
As he said, he’s also joining a defense that has a lot of stars. Queen now joins a group that features All-Pro-caliber players in Cameron Heyward, T.J. Watt and Minkah Fitzpatrick along with Alex Highsmith off the edge. They also have an emerging young defensive lineman in Keeanu Benton, and Queen can help solidify the middle along with Roberts while Holcomb recovers from his injury. The Steelers were expected to target an inside linebacker in free agency, and they did so by grabbing the best available in Queen. That shows how much they value the position and building their defense up to be as good as possible.
Queen was an All-Pro in 2023, and he’s going to be a huge asset for the Steelers as they look to finally win a playoff game for the first time since 2016. Hopefully, Queen can play like he did in 2023 and take the Steelers’ defense to another level.
