Article

90 In 30: Steelers 2024 Training Camp Preview Series — Patrick Queen, John Rhys Plumlee, Elandon Roberts

By Dave Bryan

Posted on July 12, 2024 at 7:15 am

The Pittsburgh Steelers’ 2024 offseason practices concluded in the middle of June. Next up is the team’s annual training camp, which gets underway in the latter part of July at Saint Vincent College in Latrobe. Ahead of Steelers training camp, we will preview the team’s offseason roster three players at a time as part of a multi-post series. This Steelers roster preview, which includes outlooks for every player, will be done alphabetically by last name to make it easy to follow. This series figures to exceed 90 players this year as the team can carry 91 players in total during the offseason due to the allowance of one international player designation.

The next set of players we will preview ahead of the Steelers’ 2024 training camp are Patrick Queen, John Rhys Plumlee, and Elandon Roberts.

ILB Patrick Queen: The Steelers made Queen their prize unrestricted free agent addition this offseason by signing him to a three-year, $41 million contract in March.

Selected in the first round of the 2020 NFL Draft out of LSU by the Baltimore Ravens, Queen has played in 67 NFL regular-season games on his way to registering 454 total tackles, 37 for loss, 13.5 sacks, 33 quarterback hits, four interceptions, five forced fumbles, six fumble recoveries and 15 passes defensed. He’s played 3,831 total defensive snaps in regular-season action with 31 other snaps coming on special teams. Queen has also played in five playoff games, and he registered 23 total tackles, one for loss, and two quarterback hits in those postseason contests.

Last season with the Ravens, Queen registered 133 total tackles, nine for loss, one interception, six passes defensed, one forced fumble, one fumble recovery, 3.5 sacks, and six quarterback hits. For the 2023 season, and including the playoffs, Pro Football Focus graded Queen’s defensive play at 73.0, the best grade of his NFL career. Queen also was a Pro Bowl selection last season and that marked the first time he’s received that honor.

Outlook: The plan for Queen in 2024 is really easy to discuss as he was signed to be the Steelers’ new quarterback on the defensive side of the football. He’s expected to be the team’s primary inside linebacker and wearer of the green dot. Along with that distinction, Queen will be expected to lead the Steelers in total tackles and tackles for loss in 2024. While he might not play every defensive snap in 2024, he shouldn’t be off the field for many plays.

Queen is excellent as a pass rusher when called upon to do so. Because of that, it won’t be shocking if he registers at least five sacks in 2024. After all, he’s averaged just over three per season since entering the NFL. Queen should be good for at least one interception in 2024 as well as he’s averaged that in his first four NFL seasons.

The Steelers made Queen their prize offseason free agent addition for a reason and so a big first season in Pittsburgh will be expected out of him. If he plays up to his expectations, Queen could very well wind up as a Pro Bowl selection once again and maybe even garner serious All-Pro consideration as well.

QB John Rhys Plumlee: This year the Steelers only signed five undrafted free agents right after the 2024 NFL Draft and Plumlee, a University of Central Florida product by way of Mississippi, was one of them. The Steelers gave Plumlee a $35,000 signing bonus and that now serves as a record amount for undrafted free agents when it comes to the organization’s history. Plumlee went from quarterback to wide receiver at Mississippi before transferring to UCF and returning to play quarterback.

For his college career, Plumlee completed 464 of his 760 total pass attempts for 5,838 yards with 34 touchdowns and 19 interceptions. He also rushed 453 times for 2,556 yards and 28 touchdowns. On top of that, Plumlee caught 26 passes for 296 yards during his college career. Nineteen of those receptions for 201 yards came in 2021 at Mississippi, however. That same season he also returned one kickoff for 14 yards.

Outlook: The Steelers rebuilt their quarterback room this offseason and that included the team signing two experienced players in Russell Wilson and Kyle Allen and trading for another one in Justin Fields. In short, Plumlee arrives in Pittsburgh as a rookie quarterback at the bottom of the depth chart.

Barring injuries, Plumlee isn’t likely to get very many snaps at the quarterback position during training camp. He might not get any playing time in the preseason as well with the other three quarterbacks all being new to the team.

Overall, it will be a huge shock if Plumlee even makes the practice squad after the preseason ends. He does have a little bit of a wide receiver resume from his college playing days so maybe he will get a few reps during training camp at that position as the summer practices roll on in Latrobe. While Plumlee is an athletic player overall, his path to sticking in the NFL is an extremely tough one. Merely landing on an NFL practice squad for Week 1 would be considered a huge accomplishment for him.

ILB Elandon Roberts: The Steelers signed Robert to a two-year, $7 million unrestricted free agent contract in March of last year and the veteran inside linebacker went on to have an impressive first season in Pittsburgh.

Roberts, who entered the NFL in 2016 with the New England Patriots as a sixth-round selection out of Houston, registered 101 total tackles in the 2023 regular season with 10 for loss. He also recorded 2.5 sacks, six quarterback hits, and two passes defensed in just 581 total defensive snaps played during the regular season. Roberts also logged another 126 snaps on special teams during the regular season.

In the Steelers’ lone playoff game last season, Roberts played a ton, and he registered five total tackles, one quarterback hit, and one pass defensed in that contest. He was the green dot wearer on defense for a good part of the 2023 season due to a few injuries the Steelers had at inside linebacker.

Roberts finished the 2023 season with an overall Pro Football Focus defensive grade of 72.2, his best grade from that outlet since entering the NFL. While never being known as a great coverage linebacker throughout his NFL career, Roberts was able to hold his own for the most part in that phase of his game in 2023.

Outlook: There’s no reason to think that Roberts won’t be part of the Steelers’ 53-man roster in 2024, especially after how well he played in 2023. When Roberts was initially signed, the thought was that he would complement fellow newcomer ILB Cole Holcomb. However, due to both Holcomb and fellow newcomer ILB Kwon Alexander both going down midseason due to serious injuries, Roberts found himself as an every-down player for the second half of the 2023 regular season. He played a lot more snaps in 2023 than originally anticipated, and he did not disappoint overall.

Moving into 2024, Roberts’ playing time isn’t expected to be significant once again as the Steelers signed Queen in free agency to be the team’s new every-down player at inside linebacker. Additionally, Holcomb is looking to return from his serious knee injury that he sustained last year. If able to do so, he’s going to see the field some on defense when the team utilizes its base defense. Count on Roberts playing alongside Queen during the 2024 season as well.

Should Holcomb wind up returning to action later than originally thought, Roberts would be the benefactor when it comes to playing time. There’s also probably a tiny chance that the Steelers move on from Holcomb completely if he’s unable to get himself fully healthy and back to playing like he was prior to his knee injury.

Roberts did log a decent number of special teams snaps in 2023 so it will be interesting to see if he gets around the same number in that phase of the game in 2024. All told, Roberts will have a role in the Steelers’ 2024 defense. How much he plays on that unit will likely be dictated mainly by what happens with Holcomb.

Previous Posts In This Series:

Related Items:2024 Training Camp, Elandon Roberts, John Rhys Plumlee, Patrick Queen

Steelers Depot

Recommended for you