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FOXBOROUGH, MASSACHUSETTS – SEPTEMBER 20: Patrick Queen #6 of the Pittsburgh Steelers celebrates interception against the New England Patriots during the third quarter of the game at Gillette Stadium on September 20, 2026 in Foxborough, Massachusetts. (Photo by Winslow Townson\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n
The Pittsburgh Steelers<\/a> have won two straight games, but another expensive defensive starter is now being floated as a potential trade candidate before the NFL\u2019s Nov. 10 deadline.<\/p>\n Linebacker Patrick Queen is in the final year of the $41 million contract he signed after leaving the Baltimore Ravens<\/a>. While he remains a regular part of Pittsburgh\u2019s defense, a new proposal suggests the Steelers could move him to a contender needing help at linebacker.<\/p>\n And an old face returning to Pittsburgh is part of the reasoning.<\/p>\n Patrick Queen Named Steelers Trade Candidate by FOX Sports<\/p>\n FOX Sports\u2019 Ralph Vacchiano<\/a> picked Queen as the Steelers\u2019 top trade candidate in an Oct. 21 feature identifying one player from each NFL<\/a> team who might be moved before the deadline.<\/p>\n Vacchiano argued that Queen\u2019s production hasn\u2019t fully matched Pittsburgh\u2019s expectations, while his expiring deal could appeal to another team looking for immediate defensive help.<\/p>\n \u201cQueen\u2019s only 27 and still a tackling machine, but he\u2019s never quite had the impact the Steelers expected when they signed him to a three-year, $41 million deal. Now in the last year of that contract, he makes perfect sense as a rental for a team that needs defensive help down the stretch. It could be tough to sell anyone for a team trying to make one last playoff run for retiring QB Aaron Rodgers. But the Steelers also just brought back veteran ILB Elandon Roberts, who is 32. and could be a short-term fill-in if Queen is dealt,\u201d Vacchiano wrote.<\/p>\n A second-team All-Pro with Baltimore in 2023, Queen made the Pro Bowl with Pittsburgh in 2024 and topped 100 tackles again last year. Through six games in 2026, he has recorded 38 tackles and an interception, with no sacks.<\/p>\n The Steelers are 4-2 after rallying for a 26-19 overtime victory over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers<\/a>. Pittsburgh wants a playoff run with Rodgers, 42, making a trade involving a starting defender difficult.<\/p>\n Elandon Roberts\u2019 Return Adds to Patrick Queen Trade Talk<\/p>\n The Roberts move is real. Pittsburgh signed the veteran linebacker to its practice squad on Oct. 12<\/a>, bringing him back after he spent the 2023 and 2024 seasons with the franchise.<\/p>\n Roberts appeared in 33 games during that earlier stint, starting 29 and recording 147 tackles and 3.5 sacks. He spent last season with the Las Vegas Raiders<\/a>, starting 16 games and finishing with 90 tackles.<\/p>\n He worked under current Steelers defensive coordinator Patrick Graham in Las Vegas. But Roberts is on the practice squad, not the active roster, and the team hasn\u2019t indicated that his return was made with a Queen trade in mind.<\/p>\n Queen\u2019s future was already being discussed during the offseason. In May, the linebacker acknowledged that he and the Steelers had discussed a possible extension without making significant progress. He also addressed speculation surrounding his name in trade rumors.<\/p>\n Pittsburgh has since seen running back Rico Dowdle emerge as another trade candidate<\/a>, despite his productive Week 6 return. Backup quarterback Mason Rudolph has also drawn trade suggestions.<\/p>\n Moving Queen would create a much bigger change to the starting defense. Payton Wilson has already been playing alongside him, while Cole Holcomb offers additional experience at inside linebacker.<\/p>\n Queen carries a salary cap charge of roughly $17.2 million this season and is scheduled to become an unrestricted free agent in 2027. If Pittsburgh wants to keep him beyond this season, the club would need to work out a new deal or consider another option before he reaches the open market.<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tShane Shoemaker<\/a> Shane Shoemaker is a sports journalist covering college football and the NFL for Heavy.com. His work has also appeared in The Sporting News, Athlon Sports, USA TODAY, and ClutchPoints, along with high school sports coverage for the Marion Tribune. More about Shane Shoemaker<\/a>\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Getty FOXBOROUGH, MASSACHUSETTS – SEPTEMBER 20: Patrick Queen #6 of the Pittsburgh Steelers celebrates interception against the New…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":311668,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[73,75,74],"class_list":["post-311667","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pittsburgh","tag-pittsburgh","tag-pittsburgh-headlines","tag-pittsburgh-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/311667","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=311667"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/311667\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/311668"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=311667"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=311667"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=311667"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}