Top Linebackers in NFL Draft: Patrick Queen
Greatness was destined for LSU’s Patrick Queen, who is our third-ranked linebacker in the 2020 NFL Draft.
Stardom came from the moment Patrick Queen was born.
“Louisiana State University Tigers is your destination,” his father, Dwayne Queen, proclaimed from the hospital. He was the “miracle baby” for his parents, who had tried for three years to get pregnant.
Queen was a prodigy – and not just in football. When he was 5, he figured out how to start his dad’s four-wheeler. When he was older, Dwayne had his son pushing a sled up the banks of the Mississippi River. “At 8 years old, Patrick was hitting the ball across the fence,” his dad said. “By the time he was 10, we had to start bringing a birth certificate to all (of his) the baseball games. They thought he was too old to be playing, and once they saw the birth certificate, they found out he was younger that the other kids he was playing against.”
Sure enough, Queen went to LSU. The native of Ventress, La., was an all-state running back who rushed for almost 3,300 yards as a junior and senior at Livonia (La.) High School. In the process, he became the first person from to earn a football scholarship from the state’s premier program.
“That’s something that he told me about growing up and I believed him and still to this day I believe that. Everything came to fruition,” Queen said. “It means the world to go to the state’s primary school and be able to bring a championship back to the state of Louisiana.”
Now, the next step awaits. After helping lead LSU to a national championship, Queen is a likely first-round draft pick. Queen replaced Devin White and the defense hardly skipped a beat. In 15 games (12 starts), he had 85 tackles, three sacks, 12 tackles for losses, one interception and three passes defensed.
White is the latest in a long line of star linebackers produced by the school.
“Devin was a vocal guy that got people lined up,” White said. “Kwon (Alexdander) was a very energetic person and had people fired up. Deion (Jones) was a very aggressive person. I take a little piece of their game and try to add it to mine to be a versatile player.”
What we like
Queen’s 4.50 speed showed up consistently to scouts, who raved about his sideline-to-sideline ability. While he’s relatively inexperienced, his instincts appear to be on point. While not a big guy, he plays with toughness and physicality. He has the speed to cover running backs and linebackers – a necessity in today’s NFL. “All those guys are great players,” he said of Clemson’s Isaiah Simmons and Oklahoma’s Kenneth Murray, who are also in the first-round conversation. “Everybody has their different thing that separates them. Mine would be speed and aggressiveness and being able to do multiple things at the position.”
What we don’t like
At 6-foot 1/4 and 229 pounds, Queen is undersized. He’s not strong enough to beat most offensive linemen with physicality. He missed 13 tackles (13 percent), which isn’t awful but it’s not great, either. He’ll face better competition at running back in the NFL, so that could become a more glaring problem.
Bill Huber’s Linebacker Profiles
No. 1: Clemson’s Isaiah Simmons
No. 2: Oklahoma’s Kenneth Murray
No. 5: Ohio State’s Malik Harrison
