T.J. Watt Expects Patrick Queen to Be a ‘Dawg in the Middle’

During an interview with SiriusXM NFL Radio at the 101 Awards ceremony in Kansas City Friday, Pittsburgh Steelers All-Pro outside linebacker T.J. Watt raved about the addition of linebacker Patrick Queen.

Watt saw Queen twice a year in Baltimore, so he knows what he’s all about.

“On the defensive side of the ball. How about Patrick Queen? I’m super excited for that addition,” Watt said. “Going against him (for four years) in Baltimore, I have all the respect for him. A guy who is a true sideline-to-sideline (player). Sure tackler. Can drop in coverage, can do everything. To be that true dawg in the middle is what every good defense needs, and that’s what I’m looking for from him.”

The Steelers will use Queen as an all-situations player, head coach Mike Tomlin said on Sunday at the NFL owner’s meetings.

That shouldn’t be a surprise, as Queen was the most-played player on the Ravens defense last season, recording 1,121 snaps — 96.9% of the Baltimore defensive snaps, and more than even first-team All-Pro Roquan Smith.

With the Steelers, he will likely play in the base defense, and the Nickel and Dime sub-packages, and could also be the green-dot communicator for the defense, as he was in Baltimore.

“He’s an all situations linebacker, and so that’s exciting,” Tomlin said. “He’s a guy that’s a three-down player. He’s a guy that can do a lot of things, can tackle, can cover, can blitz and he’s 24 and a half years old, so he’s got that great combination of youth and experience and I think those are some of the reasons why we are really excited about bringing him on board and can’t tell you how exciting it is just because of the familiarity, as well. We’ve seen a lot of him, he’s seen a lot of us and it’s going to be an exciting marriage.”