Vince Williams was one of the Steelers’ core inside linebackers for years; now he’s assessing Patrick Queen and Payton Wilson. While some see fault in the pairing as too similar, he actually believes that’s one of their strengths. Now retired and immersed in the world of coaching, he recently talked about his former team on Steelers Nation Radio.
“I think they’re great, man. It’s like flash and flash”, Williams said of Queen and Wilson, the Steelers’ current starting inside linebackers. “Those guys are phenomenal. The athleticism you have in the middle of the field, the range that those guys play with being able to make plays and then having two dudes that can do pretty similar things so you don’t really have to get specialized with them. You can just say, ‘Hey, you do think and then I’ll do this’”.
The Steelers have spent much time and resources turning over their inside linebackers since the days of Vince Williams and Ryan Shazier. The latter, a 2014 first-round pick, developed into a Pro Bowler before suffering a career-ending injury. Williams continued to develop into his own but retired prematurely.
Pittsburgh signed Patrick Queen in free agency in 2024 and drafted Payton Wilson in the third round almost two months later. They have been the Steelers’ starting linebackers for the better part of the past two seasons. While Queen has been the every-down player Wilson has yet to secure such extensive playing time. But Williams still sees a bright future for them.
“They make them so much more versatile, because you have a dude that can play the three-receiver hook, another dude that can play the vertical hook”, he said, praising the athleticism the Steelers have at inside linebackers with Patrick Queen and Payton Wilson. “They’re very, very interchangeable, and I think that versatility is so special in the middle of the field”.
While Queen earned a Pro Bowl trip in 2024, he did not repeat the feat despite putting up similar numbers in 2025. Across two seasons with the Steelers, he has 249 tackles, 14 for loss, with 2 sacks, 3 forced fumbles, and 11 passes defensed. Wilson recorded 126 tackles last season, though he still plays a lot on special teams.
The Steelers’ inside linebackers behind Queen and Wilson include Cole Holcomb, Malik Harrison, Carson Bruener, and Jamin Davis. Outside of Davis, all return from last season’s roster. And conveniently for them, ILB coach Scott McCurley is the one defensive coach Mike McCarthy retained from Mike Tomlin’s staff.
Still, the ultimate question remains whether Queen and Wilson can sufficiently complement each other. Both are more athletic than they are physical, yet both have had shortfalls in coverage. Both have cited issues with the Steelers’ communication chain, which is huge for the inside linebackers. But none of that should prevent them from shedding blockers.
Ideally, the defensive line would allow the linebackers to play clean most of the time, but there will always be times that they need to make a play. Do the Steelers need one bigger linebacker, at least for run downs? It’s up to Payton Wilson to prove otherwise, it would seem.
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