“He will change this defense”: Chris Hoke calls Patrick Queen “a huge reinforcement”

For the second year in a row, the Pittsburgh Steelers have invested resources in the inside linebacker position. Ahead of the 2023 season, the Steelers signed Elandon Roberts, Cole Holecomb and Kwon Alexander. Unfortunately, both Holcomb and Alexander suffered season-ending injuries during the season. Alexander is gone and Holcomb will begin the 2024 season on the physically unable to perform list.

Enter Patrick Queen and Payton Wilson. Queen signed with the Steelers as a free agent after spending the first four seasons of his career with division rival Baltimore Ravens. The Steelers then selected Wilson in the third round of the 2024 NFL Draft. There are many expectations for Queen's performance in 2024.

“He's going to change this defense,” former Steelers DL Chris Hoke said on Thursday's episode of The Joe Starkey Show on 93.7 The Fan. “I know people say we don't expect him to make big plays. He's going to make big plays because that's what he does, right? He's athletic, he's in the right place, he's got a great feel for the game, a high football IQ. So to me, that's a big asset to this defense this year. I hope he stays healthy because he's the guy that's going to be a difference maker.”

Hoke is certainly not wrong in assuming Queen can make plays. In every season he has played in the league, he has had at least nine tackles for loss. In the last two years, he has had three interceptions and defended six passes in each of those seasons. In 67 career games as an inside linebacker, he has even recorded 13.5 sacks.

Roberts did well as a starting linebacker for the Steelers in 2023. But the team had so many injury problems that they signed free agents late in the season and even players that had previously signed players, so signing Queen at the start of free agency made a lot of sense.

It also made a lot of sense for the Steelers to invest a third-round pick in Wilson. He won the 2023 Dick Butkus Award as the nation's best linebacker. Unfortunately, his injury history caused him to slide sharply in the draft. The Steelers were more than happy to take him with one of their two third-round picks.

Wilson had 138 total tackles, 17.5 tackles for loss, six sacks, three interceptions (one returned for a touchdown), six passes defensed, one forced fumble and two fumble recoveries in 2023. Wilson was a force of pure destruction for the NC State Wolfpack.

And that's why Hoke believes Wilson will play more in early 2024 and throughout the rest of the season.

“I think you're going to see a big dose of Payton Wilson early on,” Hoke said. “He's a guy they really like. Again, he's big and physical. He's athletic, he can move. So I think he's a guy you're going to see really step up and take a lot of snaps. I think you're going to see Payton Wilson really step up this year as you get to the middle of the season and the home stretch.”

Rookies always take their share of defeat early in the season, and Hoke has said as much, but he believes that as Wilson learns more about how to play in the NFL, he will become more influential.

And if both Queen and Wilson play for the Steelers throughout the 2024 season, that's a good thing both now and in the future.