Andrew Buller-Russ
For the past 19 years, Mike Tomlin has been head coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers. Now, he’s not.
As the Steelers turn the page to a new chapter, it’s now Mike McCarthy’s team. As expected, the 2026 Steelers will look different than the version we saw in 2025. It could even mean moving on from a two-time Pro Bowler.
Recently, Bleacher Report’s Alex Kay highlighted five fairly high-profile cut candidates around the NFL. Surprisingly, Kay included the Steelers in that bunch, as he views linebacker Patrick Queen as someone who could be set to lose his roster spot in Pittsburgh this fall.
“Queen joined the Steelers with plenty of fanfare after the club lured him from the Ravens with a three-year, $41 million deal, but the linebacker could be on his way out after two polarizing campaigns. Queen has been an inconsistent defender during his tenure with the Steelers, making plenty of great plays while also missing assignments and whiffing on tackles. He’s tallied 249 tackles over the last two seasons, but only contributed two sacks and a trio of forced fumbles. Pittsburgh’s defense has had some brutal stretches with Queen as its defensive play-caller, including losing five consecutive games to close out 2024 and getting embarrassed by a middling Texans squad in the playoffs. Releasing Queen would save Pittsburgh nearly $11 million, money that it could allocate toward finding a cheaper replacement and still have cash available to spend elsewhere.”
BR’s Alex Kay on Patrick Queen
The Steelers releasing Queen would certainly come as a surprise. As noted, they just signed him to a rich contract two years ago. Yet, some might argue he hasn’t been worth the price.
They’ve also since selected Payton Wilson with a third-round pick in the 2024 NFL Draft and have signed Cole Holcomb. Do all the above factors make Queen expendable, to the point where the Steelers would cut the 26-year-old rather than trade him to a different team? That’s a question the Steelers will have to answer later this offseason.
If he is cut free, the player with 101 starts in the past six years would likely be very desirable on the open market, especially considering he’s never missed a game in his NFL career.
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