The Pittsburgh Steelers and linebacker Patrick Queen agreed to a 3-year deal worth $41 million, according to multiple reports.
Queen has spent the first four years of his career with the Baltimore Ravens, who drafted him with the No. 28 pick in 2020. He’s started 67 career games, totaling 454 total tackles, 13.5 sacks, four interceptions and five forced fumbles in that span.
The 24-year-old inside linebacker will join a Steelers linebacking corp that includes Elandon Roberts, Cole Holcomb and Mark Robinson.
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In 2023, the Ravens declined to pick up Queen’s fifth-year option and then drafted Trenton Simpson in the third round. He went on to be named a second-team All-Pro and make his first Pro Bowl team.
Queen was the top-ranked linebacker in The Athletic’s Randy Mueller’s free agency rankings this offseason.
How surprising is this?
From the moment when the Ravens traded for Roquan Smith and then made him the highest-paid inside linebacker in the NFL, it seemed highly unlikely that Queen would get a second contract with the team that made him a first-round pick in 2020. The Ravens loved everything about Queen, from his explosiveness on the field to his toughness (he never missed a game in four seasons), to his work ethic.
However, when you’re paying a franchise quarterback, you have to make some tough decisions with the rest of your roster and it just never was viable for the team to pay big money to two inside linebackers. The Ravens surely hoped that Queen would end up outside the division and not with their biggest rival, but they know the Steelers value similar characteristics in players that they do, so this couldn’t have been a huge surprise. — Jeff Zrebiec, Ravens beat writer
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(Photo: Patrick Smith / Getty Images)
