30 Scenarios in 30 Days: Patrick Queen will have career highs in sacks and INTs

by Jeff Hartman

07/13/2025

1 Comments

The Pittsburgh Steelers are preparing for the 2025 regular season, but before the real games begin, the team has to head to training camp back at Saint Vincent College in order to fine tune their skills. As we here at SCN prepare you for the start of camp, we give you a series called “30 Scenarios in 30 Days” which gives you a Steelers scenario every day leading up to the start of camp.

It is simple how it works. We provide you the scenario, reasons why it will or won’t happen, and then our prediction for what we think will take place.

Let’s get to the scenario…

Scenario: Patrick Queen will set career highs in sacks and INTs

Why it will happen: The Pittsburgh Steelers new shiny toy at inside linebacker last season, Patrick Queen, absolutely brought with him a nice resume from his days in the AFC North division. Similar to the scenario I did with Pat Freiermuth, talking about him reaching career highs, I was curious if Queen could do the same in two impact categories this season. Those categories would be none other than in sacks and interceptions.

What are Queen’s career marks in these categories? Let’s take a look…

Career Highs:

Sacks: 5.0 (2022)

INTs: 2 (2022)

How did he do in 2024?

Sacks: 1

INTs: 0

With Queen now having a year under his belt in the defense, the Steelers should have a new element of their defense they can use on a regular basis. Queen isn’t just fast and athletic, but a tremendous blitzer. If the offense wants to put all their attention on stopping the edge rushers, T.J. Watt and Alex Highsmith, the defense could harken back to the days of Larry Foote and James Farrior and blitz more up the middle. While getting to 5.5 sacks isn’t impossible, it will be a challenge.

As for the interceptions, Queen was in position more than once last season to eclipse that mark, but wasn’t able to convert the play. Being dropped into the middle of the field is common for the Steeles defense, and you can expect Queen to make more plays on the football, just like he did vs. Mitch Trubisky in 2022 at Acrisure Stadium.

Why it won’t happen: As stated earlier, the interception mark might be the easier one to break, in terms of career highs, but the stat I find more difficult are the sacks. Last season has been the standard for how the defense will utilize their inside linebackers, and that is by using the inside linebackers more for run-stuffing and coverage. They didn’t task them with blitzing much at all.

I mentioned the Dick LeBeau approach to defense where he would blitz the inside linebackers was once the norm, but it seems as if we would have to see a serious change in philosophy from Teryl Austin to see Queen set a new mark in sack production. In other words, when you combine Austin not blitzing the inside linebackers a lot in his tenure with the Steelers, and the team’s lack of production in the past, it seems unlikely Queen can set that new career mark.

Prediction: While I would love to see Queen set new marks for interceptions and sacks, I just don’t see it happening. If he does, it would be amazing and a huge boost for Queen as the big free agent fish landed last offseason left some people feeling deflated, but if he doesn’t it shouldn’t be viewed as if the signing was a failure.

Miss a scenario? You can see the full list of scenarios below, and be sure to stay tuned to SCN for the latest news and notes surrounding the Steelers as they prepare for training camp.

The Steelers will go above and beyond their win-loss prediction in 2025

The Steelers will throw more INTs than last season

The Steelers will eclipse 50 sacks in 2025

The Steelers Defense Will Have More Takeaways This Season

Aaron Rodgers will start all 17 games in 2025

DK Metcalf Will Have Double-Digit Receiving TDs

T.J. Watt will break the single-season sack record

The Steelers Will Rush For More Than 2000 Yards In 2025

The Steelers will have a Top 5 Rush Defense

Jalen Ramsey will return to the Pro Bowl in 2025

The Steelers will have a winning record in the AFC North

The Steelers will have a kickoff return for a TD in 2025