pick 20

I can agree with the first sentence paragraph. Austin has never been a high quality DC in the league and its been about a decade since Tomlin was a high caliber HC (that isn't to say he's BAD, but he's not a high caliber one).

Because Queen is one of our best two linebackers at covering the pass. That is why he is on the field. Wilson comes on in relief of Harrison (who has to start because Wilson is bad vs. the run). You're not going to put Wilson and Harrison as the pass down ILB's. Certainly not Holcomb or Bruener either... He's on the field in pass downs because that is what the team has. He is better at it than every other ILB we have except for Wilson (and even that is a stretch as Wilson has his struggles here as well with positioning).

No shot we play hardball over a couple million... we can clear cap space in so many different ways. Plus its a ton of money and capital to spend on the ILB position when we have other holes like not having a competent NFL WR room to pair with DK, a second corner under contract next to Peezy Jr., or a QB under contract for next year that we plan on starting.... Lots of other things to check off the list before this becomes a massive priority.

Here's the list for FA ILB's in 2026. It's not a highly impressive list. https://www.spotrac.com/nfl/free-agents/signed/_/year/2026/position/lb

This is an excellent draft for ILB's in the first round. The two Buckeye ILB's are very impressive (Reese and Styles), as is Hill from Texas... I don't know enough about the depth of the draft at the position to make a statement one way or the other about the mid or late round players. A list can be found here https://www.nfldraftbuzz.com/positions/LB/1/2026 . For this list you have to click on the player to see what pick they are projected, but I like the website and the player breakdowns it does. You seem to like PFF a lot, so their ILB list is here (shows the projected ranking better than Draft Buzz) https://www.pff.com/draft/big-board?season=2026

If I personally HAD to cut Queen and make the ILB room better, I am likely also cutting Harrison and spending 10ish million on Quay Walker and pairing him with making Sonny Styles the "pick this guy or bust" target in the first round. I ink Leo Chenal as a back up and run a grouping of Walker/Styles/Wilson/Chenal/Bruener. I think Quay Walker is a very similar player to Queen (and has some of the same struggles) but is a few million cheaper than Queen's current contract even if I consider him a lateral move at best. Styles can become the main dawg of the room eventually (and excels in coverage and should be a good player vs. the run). Chenal is more of a 2 down LB, struggling in coverage. Wilson is a pass coverage specialist that struggles against the run. Bruener is ST. Truly, the best LB room we can create likely just keeps Queen, drafts a stud in the first round, and upgrades our depth by replacing Harrison.

I think Queen gets too much hate around here. He's not a 13 million dollar backer (his missed tackle rate is probably the main thing that gets him grief around here. If he was a more sound tackler, no one would have an opinion on him at all), but he's still a quality player and a leader. He's not perfect, but he also isn't the horrific liability in coverage that people paint him as. I think it is all a moot point, as I think the Steelers are far more likely to extend Queen than they are to cut him, but that is just my opinion. Either way, even if we keep Queen, we should look to upgrade that 2nd ILB role (or just get a guy that pushes Queen to that role).