‘I Had A Down Year’: Patrick Queen Knows What To Fix, And How To Fix It

Patrick Queen is entering a contract year with no sign of a contract. Regardless of his status, he knows he must do better. The Steelers’ green dot on defense, he talked to reporters yesterday and bluntly assessed his 2025 season. Always a self-critical player, he pointed out one area in particular where he must improve.

“I care enough to know that I had a down year”, Queen said, via Pittsburgh’s DSEN. “I know how to correct it; I know how to fix it. My coaches know how to fix it, so we’re all collaborating”. But he knows, in particular, that he has to clean up his tackling.

According to our charting, Patrick Queen had an awful year in 2025 with missed tackles. We docked him for 22 during the 2024 season, charting a 13.7-percent miss rate, but last season saw a marked rise. He missed 28 tackle attempts last year, his miss rate climbing to 17.8 percent. Nobody else on the team was even close, the nearest having 12 misses.

“One thing I’m not gonna sacrifice is the way I play the game. If I have a chance to blow up somebody, I’m gonna blow them up”, Queen said. “But understanding what situations I’m putting myself and my teammates in when I do that and knowing the right time to do that”.

In other words, he wants to stop bouncing off ball carriers with shoulder tackles, especially when no other defenders are near to clean up in case he fails to bring him down. Blowing up a player can really fire a team up, but few things deflate like a missed tackle that leads to a big play. Patrick Queen is more mindful than ever of trying to find that balance and trusts the coaching staff to work with him on it.

“Open-field tackling—I think I missed four sure open-field tackles”, Queen also noted. He is certainly capable of being a good open-field tackler, with the range and athleticism to do it. But he had a down year on that front, and four might be a generous figure. Still, it’s on his agenda to work on, “Just canceling that out”.

As a team, the Steelers graded out 20th last season in defensive tackling from Pro Football Focus. In their charting, Pittsburgh tallied 160 misses during the regular season, crediting Queen specifically with 31. They also docked Payton Wilson for 14, with our figure at 11. We also had Malik Harrison down for 12, their charting showing nine.

Naturally, the inside linebacker position is likely to lead the way in missed tackles. That’s because they have the most tackle attempts, of course. For example, Patrick Queen has recorded 120-plus tackles in each of the past two seasons. You’d still like your missed tackles to be closer to single digits, but they’re going to happen. The important thing is making sure you don’t miss the ones the defense needs you to make.