Linebacker Patrick Queen was a big-time addition this offseason by the Pittsburgh Steelers, and we’re seeing some of his encouraging skillset on display with a handful of training camp practices in the books. One thing I noticed looking at his career stats was staying on the field quite often in his four NFL seasons, which contributed to healthy tackle totals in each of those seasons.
This made me wonder how Queen’s tackle totals of 70-plus each season compared to his NFL peers during his career, which began in 2020. So, I examined the data of linebackers each season of the span, and here were the findings:
NOTE: All tackles referenced are solo tackles.
Lots of valuable info to unpack from this visual. Since 2020, only ten linebackers had 70 tackles or more in all four seasons, including Queen. This was very encouraging and impressive to learn about the new Steeler, in rare company in his first four years in the league.
The colors of the bars on the chart are very telling with black bars meaning multiple teams for players. We see Queen colored in the dreaded Ravens purple but encouragingly among three of the ten qualifiers that made this list with one squad. The other two were Fred Warner (49ers) and Lavonte David (Bucs), excellent players and company for Queen to achieve.
One difference is Queen changing to the good side of the AFC North (in Steelers lenses), which I included on the visual as the players team logos. So, Warner and David are the only linebackers in this group of ten that remain with the same team since 2020, despite how rare these tackling feats have been in the span.
Of course, the hope is Queen can continue these impressive contributions with the Black and Gold. A rather impressive factor for Queen was his durability, starting every game in his four-year career to date. This is fantastic with the same expectation in Pittsburgh, especially after all the injuries at the position last season. This is an extremely attractive element of his resume and a component to making this impressive list of ten linebackers.
The last thing I included on the visual were tackles by season. Those are the colored dots, allowing us to see trends through the span. For example, the two players at the top of the list (most total tackles) had more varying results by season, compared to the third ranked player in Roquan Smith being more consistent each year.
In case you didn’t know, Smith was Queen’s former teammate in Baltimore, the only such players in 2023. That does highlight how well they played as a duo, with the only other occurrence in the timeframe being the 2022 Minnesota Vikings (Erik Kendricks and Jordan Hicks).
A narrative from many this offseason is wondering if Queen might regress without Smith in 2024 with Pittsburgh. What I haven’t heard discussed is Smith’s career prior to Baltimore. Smith didn’t become a Raven until mid-way through 2022 when the Chicago Bears traded him, meaning he was Queen’s teammate the last two seasons.
The quality surely improved as nice complements to each other, but Queen’s progression with more experience in the league should be credited as well. Queen was still able to provide one of the most important assets as a linebacker his first two years – tackling – without Smith despite fewer snaps.
Here are Queen’s league ranks and numbers in snaps and tackles for context:
2020: 858 snaps (27th), 76 tackles (T-30th).
2021: 826 snaps (30th), 74 tackles (T-32nd).
2022: 1,024 snaps (20th), 87 tackles (T-23rd).
2023: 1,120 snaps (fourth), 92 tackles (19th).
Largely positive trends in the four-year span, including over 1,000 snaps the last two seasons with healthier tackle totals to match. A whopping snap total last season that ranked fourth, along with his most tackles to date is something that will hopefully carry over in 2024 with the Black and Gold as the expected three down linebacker.
His career marks all landing within the top 32 aligns with this notion and gives comfort to this hope and my earlier points. Considering the carousel of the position for the past several seasons, really since the devastating injury to former Steeler Ryan Shazier in 2017, hopefully Queen is that steady presence the organization has been unable to find since.
Here’s to hoping that’s the case, with Queen continuing where he left of in Baltimore, and providing that consistency in the Steel City for years to come.
