Following a quiet first day of the legal tampering period of free agency on Monday, the GM Omar Khan and the Pittsburgh Steelers went out and made a big splash with the reported addition of ILB Patrick Queen. The inside linebacker position has been in flux for the Steelers over the last several years, and Queen has the opportunity to solve that problem for Pittsburgh.
“Some cities want it to be wide open…saying we wanna have an exciting brand of football. We wanna take shots, we wanna be wide open,” Pat McAfee said Tuesday in a clip of The Pat McAfee posted on YouTube. “In Pittsburgh, it’s like, if you’re willing to punch somebody in the face for the Steelers and you are very good at it, Pittsburgh loves you. What a perfect signing seemingly for the Pittsburgh Steelers.”
The AFC North is well-known for featuring a physical brand of football. Some of the best defenses in the league are housed in the division. And the Baltimore Ravens just got much more physical in their rushing attack with the reported addition of RB Derrick Henry earlier on Tuesday.
Queen spent his first four seasons with the Ravens after being selected in the first round of the 2020 NFL Draft. He had a solid rookie season but failed to take the next step in the subsequent two seasons. The Ravens then declined his fifth-year option ahead of his breakout season in 2023.
Last year, he had 133 total tackles, 84 solo tackles, nine tackles for loss, 3.5 sacks, one interception, and one forced fumble. That performance earned him a Pro Bowl selection as well as a spot on the AP second-team All-Pro list.
Last season, the Steelers saw Cole Holcomb and Kwon Alexander go down with season-ending injuries in back-to-back weeks. By the end of the season, they were employing practice squad players and players they had lured out of retirement. The position has experienced extreme turnover year after year for the better part of the last decade since Ryan Shazier’s injury. Queen has a chance to right the ship and provide a stabilizing force at the position.
This is a move that hurts the Baltimore Ravens and helps the Steelers. You can’t ask for much more than that.
