The Pittsburgh signed Patrick Queen this offseason hoping to solve their inside linebacker problems for the foreseeable future. An All-Pro last season very much in the prime of his career, he came over from Baltimore on a three-year, $41 million contract. But are the Steelers getting their money’s worth out of him based on his quality of play thus far? Did they overpay him, trying to solve their problems by throwing money at them?
“Probably”, Steve Palazzolo said on 93.7 The Fan yesterday. The former Pro Football Focus man cited the fact that all of his success came, not so much with Roquan Smith but rather former Ravens defensive coordinator Mike Macdonald. And he isn’t sure the Steelers have a system that gets Queen playing the way they need him to.
“He is a very interesting use case where the only time he produced using that metric was with Mike Macdonald”, Palazzolo said of Patrick Queen. “He does a really nice job of maximizing linebackers, setting them free, and letting them make plays. Yeah, it’s something to keep an eye on. Honestly, that was part of the risk I thought with Queen. He was kind of bad for two years until Macdonald got there, and if he’s not in that system, is that an issue”?
Through five games, Queen has 30 tackles, just one for loss, with two passes defensed (both arguably being dropped interceptions). While he shows off his impressive range, he has yet to make the sort of impact that pays you $13 million per year.
Last season, for comparison, Queen made 133 tackles with 9 for loss, 3.5 sacks, a forced fumble, and an interception. Now, there is still a lot of season left, and we have to account for the changed circumstances. But the Steelers do need him to play better to justify that contract.
Prior to free agency, many expressed doubts about Patrick Queen’s ability to be the Batman of a defense. They believe that he thrived only after the Ravens traded for Roquan Smith, Queen feeding off him. While he surely benefited from playing next to a great player, he was already having a good season when Smith arrived in Baltimore.
But players will often struggle when changing teams, and the Steelers also gave Queen more responsibility. He has the green dot in Pittsburgh, whereas that job fell to Smith in Baltimore. He was able to play freely for the past two years, and that helped him blossom.
But let’s not lose sight of the fact that Queen is just 25 years old, his birthday in August. He is still a young player, and he still has 46 more games under contract with the Steelers. His first five games with the team are not going to define his tenure here.
But it is all we have to talk about, so of course we’re going to talk about it. We can say Patrick Queen looks like an overpay so far, but what will we think in September 2026? The Steelers like what he’s doing so far, and they are the ones he must convince.
