Last year, the Pittsburgh Steelers hoped for a big season from Patrick Queen, one of their prized offseason acquisitions. Unfortunately, he didn’t quite live up to those expectations after some terrific years with the Baltimore Ravens. On a defense that doesn’t seem afraid to try some new things in 2025, ESPN’s Mina Kimes believes Queen is the most crucial member.
“I would argue Patrick Queen might be the single most important player on the Pittsburgh Steelers’ defense this year,” Kimes said on NFL Live on Monday. “This is his second year in the system, they brought him in to quarterback the middle of the field… If they’re not consistently not displaced, the way they were last year, I just don’t see how it gets better.”
There are a lot of big names on this unit. Of course, T.J. Watt and Cam Heyward are there, as well as other acquisitions in Darius Slay and Jalen Ramsey. Yet, Queen is the quarterback of the defense, and he’s got to have the unit running better than last year.
There were plenty of issues as the defense—and really the whole team—fell apart down the stretch in 2024. Those weren’t all Queen’s fault, but the Steelers couldn’t stop the run and had far too many miscommunications against the pass. Each of those issues involved the linebackers.
That said, Patrick Queen’s job may be easier with the defense around him having more talent. On the line, Pittsburgh added Derrick Harmon, Yahya Black, and Jack Sawyer. Each of those will help the run defense at the first level, making it easier for Queen. In the secondary, Ramsey and Slay bring some stability as well.
Despite all that help, Queen knows that he and the rest of the defense need to be better. Queen did what he could against the run last year, making 129 tackles and missing just 6.5-percent of those attempts. Against the pass, things must improve. Queen allowed a completion rate of 76.3-percent and a passer rating of 114.0 when targeted in 2024. As the heartbeat of the defense, that can’t happen again.
That said, there’s reason to believe it will improve. Playing alongside Elandon Roberts for most of last season, Queen had a lot of ground to cover against the pass. Now, Payton Wilson is set to start next to Queen, who brings much more skill in coverage, as he would tell you himself.
It’s hard to judge things based on the first couple of weeks of training camp. But for what it’s worth, the defense has looked dominant. Defenses are typically ahead of the offense anyway at this point of the year, but Pittsburgh’s been mixing things up, and they’ve got a lot more talent across the unit. We’ll have to see how things play out once the season begins, but Patrick Queen and the rest of the defense look better so far.
