The first two days of NFL free agency – err, legal tampering period – were unusually eventful for the Cowboys. However, one area marked by inactivity came at linebacker, where Dallas signed zero free agents as other top options came off the board very quickly.
It led to Steelers linebacker Patrick Queen being floated as a trade candidate Monday night into Tuesday morning, but the rumors quickly died down.
Regardless of where things stand with the actual trade discussions, a deal for Queen (assuming the price is a late Day 3 draft pick, as has been floated) would be a great way to beef up the linebacker room for Christian Parker.
The former 28th overall pick in the 2020 NFL Draft, Queen starred at LSU during their national championship run before growing into a productive linebacker for the Ravens, being named to the second-team All-Pro in 2023. Despite that, Baltimore let him walk in free agency, partly due to their trade and subsequent extension for Roquan Smith.
Queen then signed a three-year deal with the Steelers, and his performance since then has been subpar, to say the least. That’s led many Cowboys fans to have a negative reaction to the trade chatter, even labeling him Kenneth Murray 2.0, which is understandable yet off the mark.
For starters, let’s rewind to Queen’s college evaluation. Here’s what Dane Brugler of The Athletic wrote up on Queen, whom he had as the second best linebacker in the draft:
A one-year starter at LSU, Queen was an inside linebacker in former defensive coordinator Dave Aranda’s 3-4 scheme. His first career start came vs. Alabama in 2018 when Devin White was sidelined (due to a targeting penalty) and he steadily grew into one of LSU’s top defensive performers, playing 89.5% of defensive snaps over the second half of the 2019 season.
One of the youngest players in the draft, Queen has outstanding play speed and can run all day, smoothly transferring his weight and closing with purpose. He is still developing his stack-shed ability and finishing skills, but shows natural read-react quickness and the meanspirited personality required for the position.
Overall, Queen doesn’t have an extensive resume, but he is a super athletic run-and-hit linebacker with excellent mirror skills and the fluidity to turn and run in coverage, projecting as a high-upside NFL starter with every-down ability.
It’s important to understand what Queen was coming out, and where he stands today as a player. Brugler hit on several key things in his analysis, noting Queen as “a one-year starter” and “one of the youngest players in the draft” without “an extensive résumé.”
In other words, Queen was very raw coming into the league.
Yet, Queen also possessed natural talent. Not only was he physically gifted, Queen was also a physical player, something that Brian Schottenheimer has stressed as a key trait in all players since becoming the head coach in Dallas.
Now, take a look at his statistical production over the course of his four years with Baltimore:
Queen’s rookie year was pretty rough. Many in Baltimore were quick to label him a bust. But his second season saw some growth, and Queen exploded onto the scene in 2022. He became a tackle machine and even unlocked potential as a blitzer.
His coverage ability improved, too. Queen’s 2022 passer rating when targeted of 96.3 tied Fred Warner for 30th among all linebackers; the next year, he was 34th, just behind Roquan Smith.
What led to this sudden burst in efficiency? Surely, a big part of it was just Queen getting some experience under his belt. But the 2022 season also marked the hiring of Mike Macdonald as the Ravens defensive coordinator. The same Mike Macdonald who just led the Seahawks to the Super Bowl in his second year there.
It wasn’t just Macdonald, though. That was also the same year the Ravens hired Zach Orr to coach inside linebackers. Orr, of course, interviewed for the Cowboys defensive coordinator job and later interviewed for a spot on Parker’s defensive staff, though he ultimately reunited with Macdonald in Seattle.
That should resonate. Macdonald and Orr don’t have any coaching overlap with Parker, but they come from similar schools of thought. And the extended look the Cowboys gave Orr this offseason should suggest that the Cowboys have at least done their homework on what it was, schematically speaking, that helped Queen go off.
As for what happened next, well, it’s an easy answer.
Queen didn’t play well in Pittsburgh, and there’s no sugarcoating that. Pro Football Focus gave him a 44.0 defensive grade, sixth-worst among starting linebackers this year; for reference, Murray was second-worst. That said, five other Steelers defensive starters also finished among the bottom 20 in their position group for player grades, including fellow linebacker Payton Wilson.
Generally speaking, the Steelers defense was not great this year or last year, finishing in the middle of the pack in virtually every defensive category aside from pass rush metrics. They were a unit largely dependent on splash plays from T.J. Watt and Alex Highsmith, and the fan base had been calling for defensive coordinator Teryl Austin to get the axe for quite some time.
Does that mean Queen gets a pass for his play the last two seasons? Certainly not. But is it conceivable that he was a poor fit for the defense, especially given the poor performances of several others around him? Absolutely.
As for the comparisons to Murray, the major distinction between the two is that Murray never played well enough to be named an All Pro. His best statistical season would have been Queen’s third-best. When the Cowboys brought Murray into the fold, they were betting on Matt Eberflus turning Murray into something he had never been at the professional level.
In Queen, Parker would simply be trying to turn the clock back two years to when Queen was an ascending linebacker. Unlike Murray, Queen has actually proven he can be great. And if the price is right, and Parker is on board, the Cowboys could do much worse than Queen.
