The Dallas Cowboys reportedly checked on Patrick Queen's availability earlier in the offseason, and his name is back in the conversation with the NFL trade deadline now less than two weeks away. What began as a quiet call between the Dallas Cowboys and the Pittsburgh Steelers has turned into one of the few midseason defensive rumors with real weight behind it.
Jeremy Fowler said rumors of a Queen trade persisted in the spring, with the Cowboys among the teams that checked on him, and he named Dallas and the Buffalo Bills as the best fits if the Steelers ever moved the linebacker. That fits the need in Dallas, where linebacker help would make sense for a struggling defense, and it explains why Patrick Queen trade rumors for the Cowboys keep resurfacing at the right moment.
Queen is not a speculative name pulled out of thin air. He earned second-team All-Pro honors during the 2023 season with the Baltimore Ravens before signing with the Steelers, and that résumé is part of what makes him such an attractive target if a trade market opens. He is also a 2027 free agent, which gives any interested team a longer runway than a pure rental would.
The problem for Dallas is the same one that has kept this rumor from becoming a deal. Fowler said the Steelers' status as a 5-2 team likely keeps Queen in Pittsburgh, and that changes the math for a move before the deadline. A team sitting above.500 does not usually ship out a player it still wants to lean on, especially one who has already drawn outside interest.
That leaves Dallas in a familiar place: linked to high-end defensive help, but still waiting for the price and the timing to line up. The Cowboys have also been tied to edge rushers such as Maxx Crosby and Josh Sweat, but Queen would fill a different need and comes with a clearer trail of interest from earlier in the offseason. The next checkpoint is the deadline itself, and unless Pittsburgh changes course, the rumor may stay a rumor.
There is also the recent trade history between Dallas and Pittsburgh, which keeps the line of communication open even if a deal does not. The two teams have already crossed paths on Joey Porter Jr., George Pickens and Broderick Jones, so another conversation would not be unusual. What is unusual is the combination of a contending Steelers team, a Cowboys defense in need of help and a player whose name keeps coming up for a reason.
