Will Queen be here next year?

I HOPE the baseles rumors of Queen being traded actually come to fruition. He's been subpar. We need two MLBs, one a run stopping machine and another that can cover TEs all day long. IF we can get ONE that can do both, the defense has the ability to be a top 3 NFL unit. MLB is by far our biggest defensive weakness at the present time. Safety is dicey, but MLB is awful. Maybe Holcomb will be a pleasant surprised coming back from serious injury, but I'd hate to count on it. It'd be nice if Holcomb made Queen a part-time player and special teams guy.

 

They can't count on Holcomb. Injuries were a concern even before he signed with the Steelers. Even if he makes it all the way back, I doubt he will last 17 games.

They simply don't have two options better than Queen, but they can mitigate the issue by having someone else wear the green dot. He just can't handle it.

 

Dumb Donald!

 

I think Holcomb will be far better this year than last. He will be two years removed from that injury. There may be another that is overlooked as well, Carson bruener. I'm excited to see what this staff can do with him other than special teams. Same with Wilson that played part time and still led the team in tackles. We have one of the best ILB coaches in the league. Our new DC should allow the players we have now to flourish.

 

This.
Bush has had two good years in the NFL out of 6, or 7, One for the Steelers, and one for the Browns, and somehow this makes it a coaching fault.

 

Bruener is undersized. So is Wilson. I hope Wilson can step forward and do more, but I'm not so sure Bruener can be anything more than a special teamer and backup. That's fine. He is an excellent special teamer.

 

The difference between Bush in Pittsburgh vs. Seattle is that the Steelers were heavily invested in his success. They gave up a ton of draft capital in order to move up and take him. Probably the number one organizational objective was about turning him into Ryan Shazier.

In Seattle, he was signed to a one-year backup LB/ST contract. Nobody really cared if he filled that spot or someone else did. The Seahawks organization wasn't as invested in him.

Now, with all that being said, I still think his biggest failure in Pittsburgh was his inability to return from an ACL injury that often has that mental affect on athletes. It was probably more about him getting his mind in gear than anything on the field. I don't think that is at all unusual throughout the sports world.

 

It seems like Steelers fans have elevated Shazier to an almost mythical status, but was he really that great? I mean, he was a very good player in his brief career, but people act like he was headed for the Hall of Fame or something. I thought Bush showed a lot of promise up until his unfortunate injury, and could've ended up being just a good as Shazier. We definitely have had some bad luck with ILBs over the years though, no question about that.

 

He was really that good.

 

He was Mr Glass his first couple seasons.

 

I dunno. I am just some dude on the internet. But I felt that Shazier was headed to DPOY good. Like 10 guys have a job on defense and Shazier just does random things that wreck an offense good.

But I may have had some serious homer glasses on with him. I was all in on Shazier being incredible.

 

Come to think of it, I do remember him making a lot of big plays. We really haven't had an ILB with that capability ever since.

 

People seem to forget that Shazier was the fastest player on the team. He was faster than Antonio Brown. He flew sideline to sideline, and wasn't just a speed guy. He was a big hitter that made impact plays.

I agree. I think he was on the cusp of DPOY-level play. He made tons of impact plays. He had a knack for turnovers with forced fumbles and he just made spectacular plays with his speed and instincts.

Not many players have ever had his physical talent, and he was an elite player in my opinion. He ran a 4.36 in the 40 at his Pro Day.

For those of you that have been watching our inside linebacker play for years now, compare that to what you see in this video. Shazier's play and athleticism is on a completely different level than just about anyone I have ever seen play the position. He was truly a special player.

 

I will always be convinced he was on the cusp of a Polamalu level impact. The career timeline is about a year off. But close.

Again, I could be delusional but that’s what I’ve always thought.

 

We have not.

What Shazier had that the other fast ILBs the Steelers have brought in since is the ability to bully his way through blockers and traffic.

It was incredible to watch. All that speed and he’d just rampage through guys too.

 

he had that safety speed and know how. he wasn't some big thumper. he got to the ball carrier quick and made the tackle. we have fast guys but you can't shoulder bump when you get there like queen. wilson should get much better under this coaching. he was only in year two remember.

 

He (Shazier)also overran plays, and had poor tackling techniques, but He was getting better at everything, every game, and could have been a force, and He did have some phenomenal plays at times. I believe if Shazier didn't get hurt He would have been awesome, but yes some people are placing him a bit too high, but that's cool.

 

I mainly remember him leading in with his head on tackles and thinking his career won't last very long if he keeps doing that. Unfortunately I was right.

 

Bush

 

He definitely made his share of mistakes, but that defense relied heavily on him and fell apart when he got hurt.

He was improving, but he never did figure out how to stop leading with his head, and that cost him dearly.

 

This.

But even if he wasn't DPOY level and remained a guy who was kind of at the edge of the conversation, the D would have been much better.

Because the year he got hurt was the rookie year of one Trent Jordan Watt.

Watt was raw when we drafted him and took a little while (not long though) to hit his stride.

Imagine that D with Shazier in his prime and Watt ascending and Cam still as just Cam and not Old Man Logan. Still with Tuitt.

And it's not just the defense.

If Shazier doesn't get hurt, the defense is peaking while the offense is still good. So both sides of the ball would have been good at the same time.

Maybe it wouldn't have made a huge difference because Brady was still Brady. But the Steelers would have had a much better end of their championship window without a freak accident that destroyed Shazier's career (but thankfully didn't cripple him permanently).

 

I like Queen, plays sideline to sideline. Queen has had the same difficulties thaat every linebacker we put out there has. The Dline interior hasnt really protected our linbackers.

 

Teryl Austin's scheme sure as hell didn't aid that either. Regardless though, as a player, have to overcome some of your own short comings. Patrick Queen's proclivity for and overreliance in his athleticism over technique has gotten him into far more trouble in 2025 than he ever was in 2024.


Teryl Austin did have schematic issues of his own (Tomlin also) but Queen has never fully displayed any sort of consistency within his performances... ever since being acquired.

 

It’s kind of funny to me to hear people ragging on Spillane. When butler was our dc he said Robert Spillane will be a starter in this league. Steeler fans loved to rag on both of them makes you wonder

 

I think you hit on one problem people have in evaluating players or teams. They want to put all the blame or give all the credit to one person or thing. It is more complicated than that. Queen has not refined his game. Poor decisions and poor technique continue to lead to erratic play. The Steelers' scheme also did him no favors. Neither did sticking him with the green dot, which he had already shown was a problem for him in Baltimore. All of those factors led to play that has been, at best, erratic.