Just because the Pittsburgh Steelers made Patrick Queen their highest-paid external free agent in team history last week with $13.66 million average annual value, it doesn’t mean it was a poor value for the team. The structure of the contract is very team friendly overall with roster bonuses in year two and three of the deal. He gets $13.84 million cash through the first year, but then the Steelers have options if they decide he is no longer a part of the plan.
Regardless of the contract structure, Queen is 24 years old and got better in each of the first four years of his rookie contract. Pro Football Focus listed him as one of the top underpriced signings of 2024 free agency.
“Patrick Queen has improved every season since entering the league and finished tied for 18th among linebackers in PFF coverage grade in 2023 (74.44),” Gordon McGuinness wrote for the analytics website. “While he has always had a knack for making plays, the most impressive aspect of his development has been how he has reduced his mistakes. He earned a negative grade on 13.9% of his plays as a rookie, but that percentage has dropped every season since and was just 7.6% last season.”
The Baltimore Ravens declined his fifth-year option last May, and Queen used that chip on his shoulder to fuel the best season of his career.
He totaled 133 tackles, 84 solo stops, nine tackles for loss, 3.5 sacks, one forced fumble, six QB hits, six passes defensed, and one interception in 2023. Most of those numbers were at or above his career highs, and as McGuinness wrote, he decreased his number of negative plays dramatically.
“This is still a good deal if Queen doesn’t get any better,” McGuinness wrote. “But if he continues to improve – and it’s important to note that he’s still only 24 years old – then this could end up being phenomenal value for Pittsburgh.”
The Steelers entered last season with Cole Holcomb (27), Kwon Alexander (29), and Elandon Roberts (29) as their top three inside linebackers. Queen was just 20 years old when he entered the league and just 24 now.
He is only a little over a year older than some of the 2024 NFL Draft’s top linebackers, like NC State’s Payton Wilson. Some would have preferred the Steelers to address the inside linebacker position through the draft, but they get the best of both worlds with Queen, who has the experience of an NFL veteran and the youth of a freshly drafted player.
For a team that had the oldest defense in the league last season, adding a good, young piece in the middle of the unit is a good start to usher in the next era. Queen, Joey Porter Jr. and Keeanu Benton are the building blocks of the beginning of the next era for the Steelers’ defense.
