The Baltimore Ravens were hoping to see a breakout season from Patrick Queen in 2021. But through the first five or so weeks, it was more of the same from the young linebacker.
Queen struggled mightily with missed tackles, blown gap-fill assignments, and poor coverage grading out as one of the worst linebackers in football. The tape spoke for itself.
Queen looked completely overwhelmed in his role, which is part of the reason the Ravens made a concerted effort to diminish his playing time.
The team brought back veteran Josh Bynes and soon thrust him into a starting role alongside Queen. Bynes almost immediately took on significant playing time allowing Queen to take a backseat role.
The results have been very promising for both Queen and the Ravens’ defense.
Ravens linebacker Patrick Queen is playing the best football of his life right now
Since Bynes stepped into the starting lineup, Queen has received a Pro Football Focus grade of 82.0 or higher in three of his four weeks. He’s been one of PFF’s highest-graded linebackers over that time.
In his entire career prior to those games, Queen had received one single-game grade of 80.0 or higher, that coming back in Week 5 of his rookie year. He’s now accomplished that in three of the last four weeks.
These aren’t just hollow grades either.
Queen has not been credited with a single missed tackle since Bynes became a starter. The former first-round pick missed 22 tackles as a rookie and had missed 10 over the first five weeks of this season.
He now hasn’t missed a tackle in over a month.
On top of that, Queen has stepped up in pass coverage as well. The 22-year-old has allowed just two catches for eight yards over the last four weeks of action.
He’s been the do-it-all, all-around linebacker the Ravens hoped they were drafting when they selected him 28th overall a year ago.
Sure, it’s come in a diminished role. But in his last two games, Queen has been on the field for 67 and 52 percent of defensive snaps, respectively. He’s still playing a good amount.
Perhaps this is the start of something special for Queen. Playing alongside Bynes has allowed him to harness the potential he showed at LSU and develop into the player the Ravens always hoped he would be.
The next step is doing this on a consistent basis. But as of right now, the Ravens are seeing the best version of Patrick Queen they’ve ever seen.