© Ken Blaze-USA TODAY Sports
Ravens LB 'Happy' for Steelers' Patrick Queen
Patrick Queen signed with the Pittsburgh Steelers this offseason after four years with the Baltimore Ravens.
Death, taxes, and the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Baltimore Ravens not liking each other.
However, relationships often times go beyond the gridiron, and that's true in the case for Ravens linebacker Roquan Smith and his former teammate Patrick Queen.
Queen stunned the football world earlier this offseason when he signed a three-year deal with the rival Steelers, and even though he's working for the enemy, he still has a fan in Smith.
"It's not weird at all. Life happens, and he's somewhere else right now," Smith said via NFL.com. "I got to tear his picture down in the LB room. So, you know we have linebackers all over the wall. I need a video of me probably punching it or something like that. Or maybe I'll ask [special teams coach Chris Horton] if I can get out there on special on a punt play and he stays to get something on him.
"But I'm happy for him. I'm wishing him all the best and it will be good to see him twice a year. He's still my guy but when war is war, that's what it is."
Smith will be tasked with fulfilling some of the role that Queen vacated, but it will be a by-committee approach. Part of what has made Smith so great with the Ravens has been Queen's ability to draw attention away from him. That will have to change in the upcoming season, but the Ravens have always been a team ready to adapt to their surroundings.
Perhaps they will look to find Queen's long-term replacement in the NFL Draft, which takes place next week in the NFL Draft.
