Steelers Now
Alex Kay of Bleacher Report recently listed Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker Patrick Queen as a potential cut candidate. The veteran linebacker hasn’t necessarily lived up to his three-year, $41 million deal that he signed with the Steelers in March of 2024.
Releasing Queen would save Pittsburgh nearly $11 million against the cap.
“Queen has been an inconsistent defender during his tenure with the Steelers, making plenty of great plays while also missing assignments and whiffing on tackles. He’s tallied 249 tackles over the last two seasons, but only contributed two sacks and a trio of forced fumbles outside of that,” Kay wrote.
“Pittsburgh’s defense has had some brutal stretches with Queen as its defensive play-caller, including losing five consecutive games to close out 2024 and getting embarrassed by a middling Houston Texans squad in this year’s playoffs.
“If Queen does hit free agency, he still offers plenty of upside as a 26-year-old, two-time Pro Bowler with first-round pedigree. He also brings a wealth of experience, having started 101 games since entering the league in 2020, and could still push closer to his ceiling in a new program.”
Queen revealed at OTAs that he wasn’t worried about his contact situation. Queen is heading into the final year of his deal.
“(There) was talks here and there, nothing crazy,” Queen said after Thursday’s OTA practice at the UPMC Rooney Sports Complex. “Obviously, I’ve seen the whole charade that went on over this offseason, but (there’s) talks. Obviously, no movement, either way, and at the end of the day, they’ve got business to handle, I’ve got business to handle, and my business is to go out there and play the best football I can and put myself in a good position, put our team in a good position, so we can both can be successful.”
Queen stacked up 126 total tackles last season, second on the team only to Payton Wilson. Queen was linked to the Dallas Cowboys in trade rumors earlier this offseason, but Jerry Jones’ team wound up acquiring Dee Winters from the San Francisco 49ers.
“Some of it was true, some it was just extended truth,” Queen said. “Just people rambling and stuff. That’s what you’re gonna have with social media nowadays, everybody wants the first say-so of whatever happens and they wanna hope to be right. But (there) was very slim facts out there, and that’s all I’ll leave it at.”
Brendan Howe contributed.
This article originally appeared on Steelers Now: Steelers All-Pro Tabbed as Potential Cut Candidate
