Pittsburgh Steelers Exit Meeting: ILB Patrick Queen
Experience: 5 Years (1 with Steelers)
The Pittsburgh Steelers paid up to acquire ILB Patrick Queen last offseason. With that move they hoped to solve some ongoing problems in the middle of their defense, but did they succeed? Quite clearly there are unresolved issues, but the extent to which Queen contributes to them is up for debate.
In his first season with the Steelers, Patrick Queen recorded 129 tackles, nearly matching his career high. He posted six tackles for loss, though, which was his lowest mark by three, and a career-low one sack. While he posted a career-high seven passes defensed, he failed to record an interception. He did force two fumbles, recovering one. In the Steelers’ lone postseason game against his former team, he recorded 10 tackles, one for loss.
But statistics only tell you a fraction of the story—even advanced statistics. Pro Football Reference will tell you, for example, that Patrick Queen missed only nine tackles. But that doesn’t tell you the number of tackles he failed to get to because he took the wrong angle.
The 2024 season did not mark a watershed for Queen as a coverage player. He continued to struggle while playing in zone, perhaps some of that accounted for by the Steelers’ scheme. One can hope and expect that there is still plenty of room for him to grow here.
After all, Patrick Queen is still only 25 years old, even with five years of starting experience. The Steelers asked a lot of him this year, basically taking on the Roquan Smith role. He had to adapt to wearing the green dot, and that can be a process of more than one season.
Certainly, there were stretches during the season where Queen looked like an impact player. There were also stretches where he looked like a liability. The Steelers have to figure out the best way to harness the best of his talents. Could part of the solution involve taking the green dot away—perhaps giving it to Payton Wilson?
The problem with that is Queen is the Steelers’ every-down player. Would Payton Wilson hold up any better playing 70 snaps per week?
The Pittsburgh Steelers find themselves at home, the inevitable result of another early playoff exit. This is a repeated pattern for the organization, with no clear end in sight. As the Steelers conduct their own exit meetings, we will go down the roster conducting our own. Who should stay, and who should go, and how? Who should expect a bigger role next season, and who might deserve a new contract? We’ll explore those questions and more in these articles, part of an annual series.
