Patrick Queen carried some high expectations as he flipped from Baltimore to Pittsburgh last offseason. His first year with the Steelers was rather unremarkable, leading a defense that had many struggles toward the end of the 2024 season.
In 2025, he has put together some good games, although there’s still been some inconsistencies as well. However, he and the entire defense are coming off a great performance against the Indianapolis Colts. Queen’s unit was able to halt the best offense in the league for most of the game. Coming off that outing, Mike Tomlin is starting to like what he’s seeing from Queen.
“PQ has been awesome in Year 2 as our defensive quarterback,” Tomlin said Tuesday during his weekly press conference via the Steelers’ YouTube channel. “He’s really owned responsibility, being the hub of communication. It’s something that’s somewhat new to him, although playing is not, being a defensive quarterback is. I like the trajectory of it in Year 2.”
There have been more than a few moments in which Steelers fans could have been upset with Queen. Against the run, he hasn’t been good on a consistent basis, and that effort extends to most of the linebacker position. Queen missed two tackles in the Steelers’ win over Indianapolis, and he leads the defense in missed tackles by quite a wide margin with 14. But aside from just bringing down the ball carrier, Queen hasn’t been stout against the run consistently. Really the whole linebacker room has struggled to fill gaps.
He hasn’t been anything special against the pass either, but that’s an area where the Year-2 improvement is noticeable. In his first season in Pittsburgh, Patrick Queen allowed a 76.3-percent completion rate, a 114.0 passer rating and four touchdowns when targeted. He’s been better this year in each category, allowing a 62.2-percent completion rate, a 90.5 passer rating and just one touchdown through eight games.
While some inconsistencies are there, Queen certainly has started to put together some good games recently. He probably had his best overall game as a Steeler in their win over Cleveland a few weeks ago. He also had a solid showing against the Colts Sunday. You’d like to be able to string those together without bad performances against Cincinnati and Green Bay in between. But it is progress nonetheless.
A lot of questions have been raised about the Steelers’ defense this year. As the quarterback of that unit, Patrick Queen has to face most of them. And while there certainly are some areas where he can be better, Tomlin’s not wrong in that his second season with the Steelers, Queen is showing some more development.
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