The offseason has been a very busy one for the Pittsburgh Steelers under GM Omar Khan. A bunch of new faces have come in via free agency and trade, a handful of familiar faces have departed in the same fashion.
As things stand currently, the Pittsburgh Steelers are seemingly better today than they were coming out of their season-ending Wild Card Round loss to the Buffalo Bills in January.
ESPN certainly seems to agree as the Steelers moved up from No. 18 in the way-too-early power rankings to No. 13 in the post-free agency power rankings that dropped Monday morning.
Pittsburgh’s move sees them surpass the Los Angeles Rams, Jacksonville Jaguars, Indianapolis Colts, Tampa Bay Buccaneers and New York Jets in the latest power rankings.
The move up the rankings puts them on the heels of the Cincinnati Bengals at No. 11 and the Cleveland Browns at No. 12 within the AFC North while the Baltimore Ravens are considered one of the best teams in the NFL at No. 4 in the power rankings.
Within the power rankings, ESPN also highlights the most under-the-radar move of the Steelers this offseason. Unsurprisingly, that under-the-radar move for Pittsburgh is the signing of linebacker Patrick Queen to a three-year, $41 million deal in free agency, stealing him away from the Ravens in the process.
“It’s hard to qualify signing the top free agent inside linebacker as under the radar, but with the offensive moves getting all the love, adding Queen might be overlooked. He is the kind of well-rounded linebacker the team has searched for since Ryan Shazier’s career-ending injury in 2017,” ESPN’s Brooke Pryor writes regarding the move. “Queen more than fortifies a position of need, joining Elandon Roberts and a recovering Cole Holcomb.
“Queen’s presence should go a long way toward slowing the top-tier run games of divisional opponents.”
As Pryor stated, it’s hard to quantify Queen as an under-the-radar signing considering he was the best player on the market at the inside linebacker position. But with all of the attention that the signing of quarterback Russell Wilson and the trade for quarterback Justin Fields is generating for the Steelers, Queen is getting lost in the shuffle just a bit.
He shouldn’t be.
He’s the best player the Steelers have added this offseason — by far.
Queen is coming off a second-team All-Pro season for the Ravens in which he recorded a career-high 133 tackles, nine tackles for loss, 3.5 sacks and one interception, playing like one of the best linebackers in football in his fourth year in the league.
The fifth-year linebacker is just 24 years old and is a player Tomlin is quite excited to have on the roster due to his versatility and high ceiling. Hopefully he is the answer to the inside linebackers room that has evaded the Steelers over the years since Ryan Shazier’s career-ending injury.
If he is, their defense should be that much better, which in turn will make the Steelers all that much better as well.
