Entering Year 2 more comfortable and confident not only in his role but in the defensive scheme, too, Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker Patrick Queen appears poised for a big season in 2025.
So far in training camp, Queen has looked good. Communication is much better defensively, Queen is flying around and is around the football a great deal, and he’s even making plays on the ball, utilizing his ball skills to create turnovers.
Playing next to second-year standout Payton Wilson seems to have given Queen some juice, and it has him as the “standout” of training camp so far for ESPN’s Brooke Pryor.
“Queen returned to the Steelers with a quiet fire to correct everything that went wrong in their season-ending slide,” Pryor writes for ESPN.com. “In his first training camp, Queen was often at the center of skirmishes, but he’s been relatively fight-free this camp. Instead, he’s making a statement in the middle of the field, beginning with an interception of [Aaron] Rodgers on the quarterback’s very first pass attempt in a team period.
“Queen is just one of a number of defensive guys who’ve turned heads in camp along with [Jalen] Ramsey, Yahya Black and Payton Wilson.”
After signing a big three-year deal with the Steelers as a free agent ahead of last season, and leaving Baltimore in the process, expectations were very high for Queen to be that answer at ILB the Steelers had been searching for. Though he had some flashes of brilliance in his first year with the Steelers, his play left much to be desired.
He wasn’t all that good in coverage, missed a ton of tackles against the run, and just generally wasn’t the type of player the Steelers were expecting after signing Queen to the big free agent contract.
Coming back for Year 2, Queen has a clear fire. He’s talked openly about needing to be the player the Steelers paid him to be. He’s also cited communication needing to be better from the top down, and so far in training camp it’s seemingly improved.
Typically, guys tend to be better another lap around the track in a new location, rather than in their first foray, and that seems to be the case early in Year 2 with Queen. On a defense loaded with talent at all three levels, Queen will be relied upon heavily to be that impact player, especially with him likely playing 100% of the snaps again.
So far in camp he’s gotten his hands on the football twice, including picking off Aaron Rodgers on the first team rep from scrimmage in Latrobe. He lamented that he let so many interceptions go off his hands last season, so he worked hard on his hands this offseason and seems to be reaping the rewards so far.
He’s not generating as much attention as guys like Jalen Ramsey, DK Metcalf, and Rodgers in training camp, but his work hasn’t gone unnoticed. Hopefully a big Year 2 in the Black and Gold is ahead for the former All-Pro linebacker.
