{"id":912175,"date":"2026-06-07T05:51:23","date_gmt":"2026-06-07T05:51:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/912175\/"},"modified":"2026-06-07T05:51:23","modified_gmt":"2026-06-07T05:51:23","slug":"kozora-making-the-case-for-patrick-queen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/912175\/","title":{"rendered":"Kozora: Making The Case For Patrick Queen"},"content":{"rendered":"

Patrick Queen isn\u2019t the most well-liked Steeler. In fact, there were stretches last season where he was the villain. A disappointment, a bust, a player the team should cut \u2013 or trade \u2013 this offseason.<\/a> Pittsburgh opted to hang onto him. Even though it seems like the odds of a contract extension are remote, there\u2019s reason to believe Queen will have a big 2026 season that he will parlay into a big-money deal next year.<\/p>\n

With the Steelers or someone else.<\/p>\n

Some of Queen\u2019s best traits are easy to overlook. If the best ability is availability, he more than checks that box. Queen has played in every game during his two seasons with Pittsburgh. He hasn\u2019t missed a game in his entire six-year NFL career. As we wrote about when trade talks swirled around Queen in March, he is just one of two defensive player<\/a>s to play in every game since 2020.<\/p>\n

He pushed through food poisoning.<\/a> He\u2019s played hurt. It\u2019s easy to take his presence for granted, but that reliability and toughness are something coaches count on. He\u2019s always going to be out there.<\/p>\n

Snap counts alone don\u2019t make for a good player. Especially one on a big contract like Queen. The new Steelers coaching staff could get the most out of him. Defensive coordinator Patrick Graham is a front seven-focused guy. That\u2019s his background and bread and butter. He broke into the NFL coaching linebackers in New England, molding the likes of Jerod Mayo and Dont\u2019a Hightower.<\/p>\n

Pittsburgh\u2019s defense will structurally be the same, but it\u2019s clearly coming with its own tweaks. T.J. Watt is studying like a rookie to adjust. Whether those ideas work remains to be seen, but they could put Queen in better position and utilize his skill set more effectively than the previous staff did.<\/p>\n

It might be as simple as putting less on his plate. Payton Wilson admitted<\/a> to being too much of a sidecar last year, failing to give Queen much assistance on checks and calls and adjustments. With a goal of correcting that combined with his third NFL season, Wilson might be of more help. Queen still seems likely to wear the green dot, but he\u2019s played his best football when his pre-snap load is lightened.<\/p>\n

The key to any successful off-ball linebacker is a sturdy defensive line. The more blocks those players take on, the freer the linebackers become, and the more plays they make. Pittsburgh\u2019s defensive line looks as strong as it\u2019s been since the Heyward-Tuitt-Hargrave days. Derrick Harmon and Yahya Black are poised for second-year leaps. Keeanu Benton will look to build on his 2025 breakout. Cam Heyward is still beating Father Time, and free agency pickup Sebastian Joseph-Day plugs the run well.<\/p>\n

Smarter scheme and better personnel are a good recipe for Queen, a sideline-to-sideline player with excellent athleticism. He\u2019s also fearless and attacking against the run, which could create plenty of impact plays.<\/p>\n

Simple as it is, Queen has a chip on his shoulder. He\u2019s in a contract year. Pittsburgh doesn\u2019t seem interested in extension talks \u2013 with good reason. Fuel for Queen to be at his best. After the Ravens declined his fifth-year option, Queen put on his best showing in 2023, his final year with Baltimore: 133 tackles (nine for a loss), 3.5 sacks, 6 pass breakups, one interception, and a second-team All-Pro selection.<\/p>\n

Queen had so many close plays last year. Moments where another fraction of a second would\u2019ve created a splash play, especially as a pass rusher. No question \u201cclose\u201d doesn\u2019t count for anything in the league, but it\u2019s recognition that his season could\u2019ve felt much better had a couple of moments gone his way. Of course, Queen can help his own cause by finishing more tackles and making more plays. This missed chance to sack QB Sam Darnold<\/a> in a crucial moment still stings.<\/p>\n

None of this is to guarantee what kind of season Queen will have. He has much to prove. Pittsburgh is correct in waiting and seeing and not giving him a new deal. It\u2019s to say I won\u2019t give up on Queen\u2019s potential to have the kind of year the Steelers envisioned when they signed him two years ago.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Patrick Queen isn\u2019t the most well-liked Steeler. In fact, there were stretches last season where he was the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":803978,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2055],"tags":[7,6,7584,520,57,2360,426,691,1481],"class_list":["post-912175","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pittsburgh-steelers","tag-football","tag-nfl","tag-patrick-queen","tag-pittsburgh","tag-pittsburgh-steelers","tag-pittsburghsteelers","tag-steelers","tag-trending","tag-weekly"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116707267907905532","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/912175","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=912175"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/912175\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/803978"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=912175"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=912175"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=912175"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}