Patrick Queen: From Baltimore's Elite to Pittsburgh's Coverage Liability A Tale of Scheme and Circumstance
- Greg Simmons
- Aug 1
- 5 min read
When Patrick Queen signed his three-year, $41 million contract with the Pittsburgh
Steelers in March 2024, it looked like a steal. A 2nd-team All-Pro in 2023, a Pro Bowler,
and a linebacker who had quietly become one of the NFL's most productive off-ball
defenders the Steelers appeared to be acquiring a cornerstone piece at a position
that had long been in flux. But two seasons into his Pittsburgh tenure, Queen's decline
has been pronounced, and the gap between his Baltimore dominance and his Steelers
underperformance tells a story less about the player himself and more about defensive
architecture, surrounding talent, and the specific demands of scheme fit.
Baltimore: The Building Years (2021–2022)
Queen's first two full seasons in Baltimore were marked by steady improvement,
particularly in an area where he entered the league as a liability: coverage. After his
2020 rookie year, where he posted 98 tackles but struggled mightily in pass coverage,
Queen entered 2021 still fighting the perception that he was an early-down run defender
who couldn't be trusted on third downs or in two-minute situations.
In 2021, Queen recorded 117 tackles and five sacks career highs at the time but
more importantly, he began to reshape his coverage profile. The Ravens under
defensive coordinator Don "Wink" Martindale (and later entering the transition to the
Mike Macdonald era in 2023) deployed Queen in a scheme designed to maximize his
physical tools: aggressive gap control, blitz packages that asked him to trigger downhill,
and a defense built on disguise and pressure rather than extended man-to-man
coverage assignments. His 2021 season showed him holding opposing quarterbacks to
roughly a 100-passer rating when targeted a massive improvement from his rookie
year but still indicative of vulnerability.
By 2022, that number dropped further. Queen held quarterbacks to a 69.1 passer rating
when targeted, a career-best mark at that point. He recorded 106 tackles across 17
games and contributed meaningfully in the Ravens scheme. The team as a whole
ranked in the top five in rushing defense and points allowed per game. Queen was
thriving in a system that asked him to be a chess piece moving him around pre-snap,
leveraging his athleticism in run fits, and keeping him out of prolonged one-on-one
coverage situations against tight ends and running backs.
Baltimore: The Apex (2023)
2023 was Queen's magnum opus. The Ravens acquired All-Pro linebacker Roquan
Smith mid-season the prior year and pairing him with Queen created one of the most
dominant inside linebacker tandems in football. The two linebackers combined for 291
tackles that season, with Smith posting 158 and Queen posting 133 the first time in
Ravens history two inside linebackers had eclipsed 130 tackles in the same year.
Queen's stats were career-highs across the board: 133 tackles (84 solo), 3.5 sacks, 9
tackles for loss, 6 passes defensed, and a single interception. But more importantly,
Queen had become a multi-dimensional player within Baltimore's scheme. Coordinator
Mike Macdonald's system allowed Queen and Smith to create "nightmare" matchups by
disguising coverages pre-snap, threatening the A-gaps with blitz looks, and rotating
coverage responsibilities that prevented offenses from getting comfortable reads.
Queen was named his first Pro Bowl and selected 2nd-team All-Pro.
The Ravens defense ranked third in points allowed per game (18.5), third in rushing
yards per game (92.1), and fourth in third-down efficiency. Queen's 69 percent coverage
snap distribution paired with his schematic versatility made him nearly untouchable in
that system. He wasn't asked to follow a tight end across the field in pure man coverage
he was asked to process pre-snap keys, trigger gaps, and rotate into zones where
his size and instincts could compensate for the limited range required of a 6-foot, 230-
pound linebacker.
The Pittsburgh Transition: Scheme Mismatch
Queen's first season with the Steelers (2024) should have been smoother. He signed
with a team that had historically invested in dominant defensive lines and defensive
edges. T.J. Watt, Cam Heyward, and a rotation of quality pass rushers meant Queen's
role should theoretically be simplified: process the run, avoid extended coverage, let the
edges collapse pockets.
Instead, Queen's 2024 campaign exposed a critical vulnerability: he was asked to cover
more ground and play more man coverage than ever before. The Steelers operate with
less pre-snap disguise than Baltimore. Under defensive coordinator Teryl Austin, the
defense relies on players winning their individual assignments. Queen found himself
lined up against tight ends and slot receivers in man coverage far more frequently than
in his Ravens years. The result was brutal: 67 receptions allowed on 81 targets for 728
yards and one touchdown in coverage situations.
His overall PFF grade plummeted to 56.8 a shock for a player who had graded in the
low-to-mid 70s in Baltimore. His coverage grade was particularly damning held
opposing quarterbacks to a 108.2 passer rating when targeted. The Pittsburgh Steelers
also ranked 27th in run stop win rate at 28.9%, suggesting Queen wasn't receiving the
same level of pre-snap support or gap discipline he'd enjoyed in Baltimore.
2025: Deterioration
If 2024 was disappointing, 2025 was a nightmare. Queen appeared in all 17 games but
finished with a 44.0 overall PFF grade 78th of 88 qualified linebackers. His coverage
grade of 31.3 ranked 83rd. More telling: he allowed a 115.5 passer rating when targeted
and was charged with 31 missed tackles over the season the kind of number that
suggests poor gap recognition and a liability on the field rather than a five-time 100-
tackle getter.
The Steelers ranked 26th in total defense and 29th in passing defense that season,
posting a 6-11 regular-season record. Queen remained an every-down player out of
necessity, not design, accumulating 120 tackles (56 solo) volume that masked
underlying issues. His pass-rush grade of 74.3 (12th among linebackers) showed he
could still be effective when attacking downhill, but that skill set wasn't translating to
overall impact.
Scheme Details: The Root Cause
The critical difference between Baltimore and Pittsburgh comes down to architectural
philosophy. Baltimore, under Macdonald and Martindale, used complex pre-snap
movement, coverage rotations, and disguised looks to minimize the coverage burden on
linebackers. The Ravens prioritized communication, schematic flexibility, and safety
support over asking linebackers to win isolated man-to-man matchups. Queen benefited
enormously from this approach.
Pittsburgh operates differently. The Steelers ask linebackers to diagnose plays quickly,
flow to the ball, and win individual assignments. The scheme relies on edge pressure
(hence T.J. Watt's historical dominance) rather than coverage chaos. When that edge
pressure doesn't materialize, or when Queen is isolated in coverage, his limitations
become exposed. He lacks the coverage range to mirror tight ends across 20 yards of
field, and his lateral agility adequate for zone rotations in Baltimore becomes a
liability in man coverage.
Additionally, Baltimore paired Queen with elite secondary talent and safeties (Kyle
Hamilton, Marcus Williams) who provided top-end coverage support. Pittsburgh's
secondary, while competent, hasn't provided the same level of security net. Queen has
also lacked the interior defensive line stability to flow freely; Baltimore's defensive front
consistently generated push, allowing Queen to trigger downhill. Pittsburgh's front in
recent years has been less consistent at controlling gaps against power running
schemes.
The Verdict on Patrick Queen
Patrick Queen isn't a different player in Pittsburgh. He's the same linebacker operating in a fundamentally different system that exposes his weaknesses rather than masks them. In Baltimore, he was a multi-dimensional defender within a scheme built to
maximize his strengths. In Pittsburgh, he's been asked to do too much in isolation
particularly in coverage without the schematic infrastructure that made him an All-
Pro.
His production decline is real, and his contract situation has become precarious. But
understanding the gap between his Baltimore zenith and Pittsburgh reality requires
recognizing that defensive scheme, personnel deployment, and systemic context matter
enormously. Queen thrived when his system asked him to be a chess piece. He
struggled when asked to be a standalone solution.
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