Today, with the busy NFL Draft process complete, I wanted to get back to researching the Pittsburgh Steelers' free agent additions this offseason. So, for comparative context, we'll continue the series by looking at linebacker Patrick Queen's stats as a pass rusher from last season, including the 2023 Steelers. This is a follow-up to my 2023 coverage article and running some defensive research on him. Today we'll be using data from Pro Football Focus (PFF).
Without further ado, let's start with pass snaps and pass rush wins and blocking in 2023 to get an idea of ​​where they stand relative to each other.
A picture speaks a thousand words. In 2023, we will witness Queen's tremendous volume as he throws a league-high 767 passes out of 85 qualifying linebackers. It's a very important context for today's article, and I'd like to see this element continue in black and gold if possible. The Queens also rank her fourth in pass rush wins with 18, to be exact. There is no doubt that this is an impressive discovery.
The rest of the NFL, particularly the Steelers' performance in 2023, also sheds important light on Queen's pass rush output last season. By comparison, Pittsburgh's Elandon Roberts had the most passing snaps at 320, less than half as many as the Queens. The Steelers' four qualifying linebacks combined for 17 pass-rush wins (Kwon Alexander led with six), just one shy of Queen's impressive numbers.
Very exciting information about LB's 2024 outlook with Queen. They also add rookie Peyton Wilson, who is considered a top talent in the 2024 draft and is available in the third round due to injury concerns for many NFL teams. Yes, Pittsburgh dealt with injury issues at the position in 2023, but things are looking bright moving forward, knock on wood.
Next, let's take a look at rushing situations and total pressures to see how the players affected the quarterback.
As expected, we once again see Queen comfortably leading the linebackers we're looking at. His 18 rushes ranked him a respectable third, and his 24 total pressures ranked him fourth a close second. Being in the top five of each is a great learning curve and would be a great addition to Pittsburgh's defense in 2024.
The most positive of the 2023 Steelers in these regards was Roberts, with eight hurries and 14 total pressures, not bad considering his passing snaps were noticeably lower than Queen's. Ta. Pittsburgh's qualifiers totaled 16 rushes and 26 pressures, the former below Queen's numbers.
Next, I'd like to provide an interesting formula for PFF called Pass Rush Productivity (PRP). It is defined as the amount of pressure accumulated per pass rush snap, with an emphasis on sacks along with pass snaps. Below is the overall PRP and actual pass set PRP (excluding play actions, screens, short dropbacks, and times thrown on sub-2 second numbers) that are less likely to be generated by a pass rusher. This eliminates most plays.
The first change in rank leadership, Roberts is the man. That's encouraging considering he's still under contract, and the hope is that his health combines this season with some of the quality he provided in 2023. Particularly impressive numbers were his 26.6 PRP, which ranked him second among the qualifiers, and his actual pass set PRP also tied him for 17th.
Queen was the only other focused player to (slightly) exceed their respective averages, tied for 29th in PRP and tied for 31st in true pass sets. Yes, volume is a particularly important factor here and is part of the equation of why Roberts has soared up the standings. It's great to see two current Steelers leading prospects last season and bringing optimism to what's to come in 2024.
Here are the total pass rush and actual pass set win percentages:
The group we're looking at is led by two former Steelers. Today we'll be mentioning Mykal Walker, who surprisingly led all top-ranked qualifiers in pass rush win percentage. The important context is that his snap count is much lower and he ranks in the bottom five out of his 85 fellow qualifiers. Similarly, Alexander was in the top five in each, but bottom 10 in snap chances. Some excellent quality, but the quantity was certainly lacking.
The insert queen was also comfortably above average on most passing snaps, which is much more impressive. Despite playing nearly twice as many snaps as Alexander and Walker combined, Queen ranked 12th in pass rush win percentage (18 percent) and 19th in true pass sets (19.6 percent). These results highlight the necessary context when looking at statistics and why looking at just one number on him, such as Walker's pass rush win percentage, can be deceptive.
Finally, below are the PFF grades (overall/actual passing set) for the position groups under the same circumstances.
This view is another important layer to see which players produced more in their expected true pass sets as pass rushers and vice versa. Alexander and Roberts fell into the first camp, and the former's production took place primarily there. Specifically, Alexander's 8th ranked pass rush grade was completely helped by his 3rd rank in true pass sets.
Queen was second among players to watch in PFF pass rush grade and 34th in qualifying, but his actual pass set grade was 37th. Strangely (in my opinion) these were his lowest rankings in today's research. Seeing his TPS drop below the trend line highlights his low production in obvious passing situations. Optimistically, one might think that 2024 could be an even better year for Queen if she can make the most of these opportunities.
The summary table and conclusions are as follows.
So Patrick Queen was the most consistent pass-rushing linebacker in terms of stats in 2023. He ranked in the top five on the quantity scale: pass snaps (NFL top), hurries (3rd), pass rush wins (4th), and total pressures (T-4th). Impressively, he also ranks in the top 20 in pass rush win percentage (12th) and TPS pass rush win percentage (19th).
His PRP and TPS PRP were tied for 29th and 31st, which was also above average. Queen's lowest rankings were his PFF pass rush grade (34th) and his TPS pass rush grade (37th), which were also above average. This means he was a top 40 pass rusher out of 85 qualifiers in every metric, with no below-average or cause for concern as a pass rusher in 2023.
On the undesirable side of the pass rush stats is Pittsburgh's Cole Holcomb, who is still recovering from a nagging injury in 2023. It's clear that pass rushing is not his forte, making him even more valuable to the Steelers' landing queen.
Queen's addition was obviously huge, and his impact as a pass rusher in 2023 has been impressive, along with Roberts' excellent contribution, giving us an optimistic outlook for pass rushers next season.
When I heard the results, I felt dizzy. If Queen can do what he was able to accomplish in Baltimore last season in Pittsburgh in 2024, keep an eye out. I can't wait to see how he does in the black and gold.