The Pittsburgh Steelers’ prized signing of the 2024 free agency period was ILB Patrick Queen. He became the highest-paid external free agent signing in team history and is now scheduled to be with the Steelers through the 2026 season. Nobody is happier about him being in Pittsburgh than head coach Mike Tomlin.
“Man, I love Patrick Queen. I can’t believe Patrick Queen plays for us,” Tomlin said with a big smile on The Rich Eisen Show via The Roku Channel on Wednesday afternoon. “I smile every time I hear his name because I’ve just seen firsthand what he’s capable of as a young, talented player. He’s got the combination of youth and experience.
“I mean, this guy just turned 25 here a couple weeks ago. He’s never missed a game in the NFL. Man, he can do a lot of things. He can run and cover and blitz. I mean, it’s really exciting to have a defensive quarterback of his caliber with his experience but also his youth.”
It is extremely rare to find a player with four years of NFL experience who is just 25 years old. Especially in today’s college football landscape with extra COVID eligibility and NIL deals keeping players in college longer. To put it into perspective, rookie ILB Payton Wilson is only eight months younger than Queen.
Queen received votes for the AP Defensive Rookie of the Year in 2020 as a 21-year-old with the Baltimore Ravens. He has progressed pretty steadily ever since and put up a career-best season in 2023. That earned him his first Pro Bowl selection as well as a second-team All-Pro nod.
Especially after the 2023 season, having a replenished ILB room is a breath of fresh air. The Steelers suffered countless injuries in the inside linebacker room last season, and it really limited the communication of the defense. Queen will step in and wear the green dot as the quarterback of the defense for the foreseeable future.
As Tomlin said, he can do it all. At 6002, 229 pounds, Queen ran a 4.50-second 40-yard dash at the NFL Scouting Combine. He is a true every-down linebacker who is capable of covering routes, running sideline to sideline, and coming downhill to make difficult tackles in traffic in the run game. He is also one of the best blitzing ILBs in the NFL. He has the fifth-most sacks for the ILB position since entering the league in 2020 with 13.5.
Queen also brings a robust personality to the defense. He has talked about his trash talk multiple times since joining the team. That helps add an edge to the group that is already looking capable of being one of the very best defenses in the league.
