19. Patrick Queen, LB, LSU
Height: 6’0″ Weight: 229
40-Yard Dash: 4.5 seconds
Bench Press: 18 reps
Vertical Jump: 35 inches
Broad Jump: 10 feet 5 inches
3-Cone Drill: N/A
20-Yard Shuttle: N/A
60-Yard Shuttle: N/A
Bio: Patrick Queen was a four-star recruit coming out of Livonia High School in Livonia, Louisiana. He played both linebacker and running back, and ran for over 1,400 yards and 19 touchdowns as a senior along with 66 tackles and six passes defended. He was given offers from schools such as Indiana, Nebraska and Tulane, but chose to stay in-state and play for the Tigers.
Queen did not crack the starting lineup until three games into the 2019 season, but instantly became a core component of LSU’s defense. He notched 67 tackles this season, along with a single interception. But that interception came at a critical moment, as Queen picked off Tua Tagovailoa shortly before halftime of the huge LSU-Alabama tilt, leading to an LSU touchdown in the closing seconds of the first half.
Stat to Know: Last season, Queen played 702 snaps in the box, 41 in the slot, 25 on the defensive line, four at outside cornerback, and seven at free safety.
Strengths: Queen displays fantastic explosiveness to all levels of the field. Once he makes his read on a play he bursts like a shot out of a cannon. He flashes pure sideline-to-sideline ability and athleticism, both against the run and in coverage. Pass coverage is his strength as a linebacker. He has a good understanding of route concepts and has a great internal clock for zone coverage situations. He knows exactly when to peel off a receiver and break on the next threat. Queen gets good depth on his backpedal when tasked with dropping into a deeper zone or into a Tampa 2 intermediate hook zone.
Against the run he is more than willing to fit his gap, take on blockers and shed them at the point of attack. He can track and scrape down the line of scrimmage well, as he does on this play against the Clemson Tigers in the National Championship Game:
Queen slides down the line of scrimmage perfectly under control, and by filling the hole he forces the running back to try and bounce this run into the boundary. When the RB runs out of real estate, Queen closes the gap and slams into him, driving him to the turf and out of bounds for no gain.
Queen is impressive playing down in traffic. He does a good job at sifting through the bodies in front of him, finding the ball-carrier, and putting him to the turf. When tasked with blitzing or stunting he is equally adept at slicing through the traffic and getting into the pocket.
His athleticism shines in a few different ways. He was able to chase down speedy Alabama wide receiver Jaylen Waddle on a jet sweep early in LSU’s win over the Crimson Tide, but he also shows good change-of-direction ability in the open field when running with receivers or tracking ball-carriers in space. His footwork when dropping into zones is more reminiscent of a cornerback than a linebacker.
Weaknesses: Queen is built more like a safety than a linebacker, and that does cause some problems. He can get swallowed up by offensive linemen at times and struggle to disengage. He sometimes tries to load up in space and deliver a shot, and that can lead to missed tackles. In the National Championship Game he tried to bring the wood to Trevor Lawrence in the open field, dropped his eyes, and caught nothing but turf as the Clemson QB danced by him. Queen also can take some poor angles in pursuit, and while sometimes his athleticism keeps him in position to make a play, sometimes it does not.
Conclusion: Similar to Isaiah Simmons, for where the game is trending Queen seems like the perfect linebacker. A decade or so ago he would be viewed as more of a strong safety, but with the prevalence of sub packages and athletic linebackers in today’s NFL Queen is perhaps the prototype at the position. His ability in coverage, in both zone and man situations, makes him a three-down linebacker. But it is his ability against the run that will make defensive coordinators value him highly. He needs to perhaps show more awareness against play-action, but for the most part, he is as solid as it gets.
Comparison: Over at NFL.com, Lance Zierlein brought out the Thomas Davis comparison, and it is hard to come up with a better answer to this question.