Patrick Queen might deserve credit for openly admitting there have been “effort” lapses at times this season. But is that excusable for a player making nearly $14 million per year to be the quarterback of this defense? When the guy with the green dot admits he’s taking plays off, it reflects on the entire unit.
Former Pittsburgh Steelers OL Trai Essex credits him for the honesty, but wasn’t impressed with Queen’s admission.
“You gotta give him credit for taking accountability, but at the same time, you don’t like to hear that your middle linebacker, one of your highest-paid defensive players, is having issues with effort,” Essex said via The Snap Count podcast. “Patrick Queen has to go out there and prove himself that he’s a man to lead this defense at that position.”
Queen had a two-game stretch earlier in the season where he was playing lights out. But he’s regressed again in recent weeks, with 12 missed tackles over the last four games. In a game where Payton Wilson had 14 total tackles, Queen had just five against the Indianapolis Colts with zero solo tackles. That should rarely, if ever, happen to an every-down linebacker in this system.
If nothing else, Queen has now put himself under a microscope against the Los Angeles Chargers, and for the foreseeable future.
Whether it’s because of a minor injury or a lack of conditioning late in games, giving less than 100 percent is selling the team short. Queen even gave an example of a play against the Seahawks where he left Payton Wilson “out to dry.” You can see him start to jog in the clip below as Kenneth Walker waltzed into the end zone for a 19-yard TD.
Compare that to the heroic effort of Payton Wilson against the Minnesota Vikings, where he chased down WR Jordan Addison to prevent a touchdown. That’s what the level of effort needs to look like.
To me, effort is the one thing that can never be lacking in competitive sports. You can get physically beaten. You can even make a mental error. But you should never lose due to a lack of effort. Accountability is great, but it was probably best left unsaid in this case.
Essex summed it up better than I could.
“I don’t wanna hear about effort from my middle linebacker. I just want to see action,” he said.
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