The Steelers made multiple splashy moves in free agency, but when it comes to dollar value, no player was a bigger splash than ILB Patrick Queen. His play didn’t jump off the screen at the beginning of the season, but he is starting to round into form as he settles into his new responsibilities.
“He’s been getting comfortable for sure. I think that’s part of it, is like, the first two weeks, three weeks, four weeks, we’ve been building up to it in the game. Not starting off fast, but I think obviously you saw it this past week where we’re starting to get comfortable, and that’s a big thing,” Freiermuth said via Chalk Talk with Gerry Dulac on 102.5 WDVE. “Getting comfortable with communications with the guy on the field. There’s so many things that need to go into each play and each side of the ball. Little intricacies of everything. So people forget about that, so yeah, it’s starting to show up big time.”
Mike Tomlin has repeatedly referred to Queen as the quarterback of the defense since acquiring him. He is wearing the green communication dot, which means he takes the calls from the sideline and is responsible for communicating those to the rest of the team. That is a big responsibility for a 25-year-old player in his first season with a new team, but Tomlin has expressed his confidence in that role.
Regardless, it is fair to assume there was a bit of an adjustment period. Since he has responsibilities to the whole defense, he could be playing a little slower as he can’t fully focus on his individual job before the snap as much.
Queen only had 14 total tackles and zero tackles-for-loss over the season’s first three weeks. Over the last three weeks, he has 29 total tackles, two tackles-for-loss, and a quarterback hit. He has been jumping off the screen way more and generally around the football more consistently. He was partially involved in T.J. Watt’s second punch-out on Sunday against the Las Vegas Raiders. He was the first to the ball carrier and forced him to bounce outside long enough for Watt to land the punch.
The arrow is pointing up for Queen, and it is only a matter of time before he starts making the impact plays that made him a second-team All-Pro in 2023 with the Baltimore Ravens.
