The Pittsburgh Steelers made their biggest free agent signing in team history when they signed ILB Patrick Queen to a three-year $41 million contract in March. He immediately became the most talented and accomplished linebacker in the room and added a skillset that the team hasn’t had since Ryan Shazier’s career came to an end in 2017. One of the most exciting elements that he brings is his prowess as a sack artist from the inside linebacker position.
Since entering the league in 2020, Queen is tied for the fifth most sacks in the NFL at the inside linebacker position with 13.5.
| Player | Sacks |
| Devin White | 20.5 |
| Demario Davis | 20 |
| Jerome Baker | 18 |
| Frankie Luvu | 16 |
| Patrick Queen | 13.5 |
| Bobby Wagner | 13.5 |
| Roquan Smith | 13 |
He has the perfect blend of speed and power to burst into the backfield, take on blocks, shed, and sack the quarterback. Of those 13.5 sacks, three of them resulted in forced fumbles. He recovered one of those himself.
Another interesting tidbit is that he had a Week 1 sack in each of his first four seasons. Will he make it five this year against the Atlanta Falcons on the road?
I watched all 13.5 sacks from Patrick Queen’s career. Below are the clips for each of those sacks, but before we get into the tape, I wanted to offer some general observations of his play.
At least three of the sacks were hustle plays. At first glance, he didn’t have a chance at the play, but he kept pursuing and ultimately cleaned up for sacks. Once he gets in the backfield, he is a heat-seeking missile, and his motor runs red-hot. There is one play in particular where he blitzes as a slot corner in subpackage football as the dime linebacker and gets home.
Queen also does a nice job creating space for himself. On a couple of the sacks, he engages a guard, delivers a pop to knock him off balance, and uses the offensive lineman as a springboard to bounce back inside for a sack. Running backs are going to have issues picking him up in pass protection. He is either too fast or too strong for many running backs to handle.
As I mentioned, with the three forced fumbles, he does a nice job swiping at the quarterback’s arms to knock the ball loose.
Defensive coordinator Teryl Austin hasn’t used the inside linebackers as blitzers much over the last couple of years, but he now has the tools to do so with Patrick Queen and Payton Wilson.
2020 Week 1
2020 Week 5
2020 Week 15
2021 Week 1
2021 Week 10
2022 Week 1
2022 Week 3
2022 Week 6
2022 Week 7
2022 Week 11
2022 Week 15
2022 Week 16
2023 Week 1
2023 Week 4
2023 Week 5
2023 Week 6
For a similar breakdown of Payton Wilson’s college sacks, watch this film room from last month. The Steelers have some options to bring pressure up the middle next season.
