One of the Pittsburgh Steelers’ biggest moves this offseason was the splash signing of former Baltimore Raven LB Patrick Queen. Shortly after he signed with Pittsburgh, Queen admitted that he hated playing against Steelers RB Jaylen Warren. Now both Warren and Queen will be donning the Black and Gold, and Warren is happy about it.
“I thought it was cool,” Warren said, on Queen signing in Pittsburgh via Not Just Football with Cam Heyward. “At first, there’s always tension, but, he’s one of ours now, he is part of the Pittsburgh Steelers, so it’s time to bring him in and show him love.”
As Queen said back in March, Warren was a tough player to play against, but Warren also didn’t like playing against Queen. The two were not friendly on the field, and Warren recalled a story about a trash talking incident that happened in the past.
“There was one time I was a lead blocker, this was my rookie year, I was a lead blocker and I tried to come back and crack him, but he had hit me and I flew and I thought he like really smacked me,” said Warren. “But on film, somebody was behind me and I just fell over him. I was like, ‘You got that?’ And he was just saying, ‘Yeah, that’s not gonna work with me.’ And from then on it was just like little chatter.”
Warren is known for being a great blocker with multiple highlights of him blowing up linebackers and Queen is a very physical linebacker so it makes sense that there was often jawing going back and forth between them. It will be fun to watch them in training camp in the famous “backs on backers” drills.
While the Steelers and Ravens rivalry is not what it was in its heyday there is still a lot of smack talk and hatred there. Queen’s defection to the Steelers from the Ravens will likely make things more heated. Now though, Warren will have to find another Raven to antagonize.