Movie Room: Patrick Queen adds blitzing prowess to Steelers’ ILBs

The Pittsburgh Steelers made the biggest free-agent deal in team history when they signed linebacker Patrick Queen to a three-year, $41 million contract in March. He immediately became the most talented and accomplished linebacker in the room and added a skill set the team hasn’t had since Ryan Shazier’s career ended in 2017. One of the most exciting things he brings is his prowess as a sack artist from the inside linebacker position.

Since entering the league in 2020, Queen is tied for fifth in the NFL for most sacks at inside linebacker with 13.5.

Player	Bags
White Devin	20.5
Demario Davis	20
Jerome Baker	18
Frankie Luvu	16
Patrick Queen	13.5
Bobby Wagner	13.5
Marquis Haynes	13
Roquan Smith	13

He has the perfect blend of speed and power to burst through the backfield, absorb blocks, shake off the quarterback and tackle him. Of those 13.5 sacks, three of them resulted in forced fumbles. He recovered one himself.

Another interesting fact: He had a sack in the first week of each of his first four seasons. Will he have five this year against the Atlanta Falcons on the road?

I watched all 13.5 sacks Patrick Queen had over the course of his career. Below are highlights of each of those sacks, but before we get to the video, I wanted to share some general observations about his game.

At least three of the sacks were hustle type plays. At first glance, he had no chance of making that play, but he kept chasing it and eventually got sacks. Once he gets in the backfield, he’s a heat-seeking missile and his motor is running at full throttle. There’s one play in particular where he blitzes as a cornerback in a football sub-package as a dime linebacker and runs home.

Queen also does a good job of creating space for himself. On a few sacks, he engages a guard, pops him to get him off balance, and uses the offensive lineman as a springboard to bounce inside for a sack. Running backs are going to have a hard time picking him up in pass protection. He’s either too fast or too strong for many running backs to handle.

As I mentioned, with the three forced fumbles, he does a good job of hitting the quarterback’s arms to knock the ball loose.

Defensive coordinator Teryl Austin hasn’t used inside linebackers as blitzers much over the past two years, but he now has the tools to do so with Patrick Queen and Payton Wilson.

Week 1 of 2020

Week 5 of 2020

Week 15 of 2020

Week 1 of 2021

Week 10 of 2021

Week 1 2022

Week 3 of 2022

Week 6 of 2022

Week 7 of 2022

Week 11 of 2022

Week 15 of 2022

Week 16 of 2022

Week 1 2023

Week 4 2023

Week 5 2023

Week 6 of 2023

For a similar analysis of Payton Wilson’s college sacks, check out this video from last month. The Steelers have a few options to pressure the middle next season.