Steelers A to Z: A rare external big-money UFA signing, Patrick Queen is still ascending

Editor’s note: From now until the first practice of training camp at Saint Vincent College, TribLive is running through the Pittsburgh Steelers’ 90-man roster, looking at each player and assessing his outlook for the 2024 season. The breakdown will run in alphabetical order with at least two players each day between June 14 and July 25. Contract data courtesy spotrac.com.

ILB PATRICK QUEEN

Experience/age: 5^th season, turns 25 during training camp

Contract status: $6.1 million cap hit in 2024, signed through 2026

The past: It isn’t difficult to imagine an alternate universe in which Queen was a career-long Steeler. An athletic and playmaking inside linebacker during a national championship-winning career at LSU, the 6-foot, 232-pound Queen was considered a shoo-in as a prospect to be taken in the middle-to-late rounds of the 2020 draft. Even though the Steelers had taken Devin Bush in the first round the prior year, Queen is the type of player coach Mike Tomlin might become enamored with. And with a then-starter at inside linebacker 30 years old in Vince Williams, who knows? Maybe the Steelers take Queen with the idea he and Bush patrol the middle of their defense for years to come.

Of course, that didn’t happen for a number of reasons. Bush was a bust, and the Steelers had no 2020 first-round pick (they’d sent it to the Miami Dolphins seven months prior in exchange for Minkah Fitzpatrick). But Tomlin and the Steelers eventually got their man — even if they had to deal with him on the rival Baltimore Ravens in the interim. The Steelers signed Queen to a three-year, $41 million contract early during the free agency period in March.

Patrick Queen on why he joined the Steelers, he cites Mike Tomlin pic.twitter.com/0C1SK729Ej

— Chris Adamski (@C_AdamskiTrib) March 15, 2024

2024 outlook: Queen was a second-team AP NFL All Pro last season after he had a career-high 133 tackles (84 solo, nine for loss), 3½ sacks, a forced fumble, six passed defended and an interception. Over a career in which he has not yet missed a game, Queen has 454 tackles (297 solo), 13½ sacks and four interceptions.

Still, there were whispers that he was a disappointment … until his final season and a half with the Ravens. And his ascendance happens to coincide with Baltimore acquiring perennial All Pro Roquan Smith to play alongside Queen. The Ravens clearly believed Smith was better by way of the $100 million contract they gave him — while allowing Queen to walk in free agency.

But one unique aspect for the Steelers of Queen’s signing as an unrestricted free agent is that it is rare a player his age of his caliber is on the market. How young is Queen, who is starting his fifth NFL season? Five Steelers rookies likewise will be 24 years old on reporting day for training camp.

Queen is the surest thing among an ILB group that is intriguing but comes with question marks. Elandon Roberts was good in his first season with the Steelers in 2023 — but he’s 30 and not known for his coverage skills. Cole Holcomb also had the look of a good 2023 free-agent signing — but he suffered a serious knee injury in November and might not be at full health this fall. Payton Wilson was a star in college — but as one of those aforementioned 24-year-old rookies, will his game translate to the NFL?

Through it all, rest assured the Steelers didn’t give Queen the largest contract to an external free agent in franchise history if they didn’t believe he would be an every-down difference maker in the middle of their defense.