The NFL has named Steelers linebacker Patrick Queen as a replacement player for the Pro Bowl Games.
He replaces Ravens linebacker Roquan Smith, his former teammate.
Queen, who signed with the Steelers as an unrestricted free agent during the 2024 offseason, started all 17 games and the playoff game at inside linebacker. He finished the season with a team-high 129 tackles, which are the fifth-most in a season by a Steelers defender since 1994, while adding seven passes defensed, six tackles for loss, two forced fumbles, one sack and one fumble recovery.
Queen also was selected for the Pro Bowl Games in 2023 while with the Ravens.
He joins a host of Steelers in Orlando this week. Kicker Chris Boswell, safety Minkah Fitzpatrick, defensive tackle Cameron Heyward and linebacker T.J. Watt were voted in as starters. Special teams ace Miles Killebrew, guard Isaac Seumalo and quarterback Russell Wilson were named as replacements.
Watt won’t participate because of an injury.
Chuck Pagano didn’t spend much time thinking about whether to come out of retirement to join the Ravens coaching staff.
Pagano said on The Pat McAfee Show Wednesday that he spoke to Ravens head coach John Harbaugh last Friday about another coach who was looking for a job and Harbaugh asked if Pagano had any interest in coming back to work. They spoke again on Tuesday and the Ravens announced the Pagano will be their senior secondary coach in 2025.
Harbaugh hired Pagano for his initial staff in Baltimore in 2008 and Pagano became the Colts’ head coach in 2012 after one year as the coordinator in Baltimore. He said being hired by the Ravens the first time “changed the whole trajectory of my career” and that he had other opportunities to return to coaching, but that the Ravens “just check all the boxes.”
“I know the people in that organization from the top down,” Pagano said, via the Ravens’ website. “It’s the gold standard. . . . The thing that pulls you off the couch is the opportunity to win and win it all. They’ve built a phenomenal roster. They are a wagon from top to bottom.”
Pagano coached the Colts through 2017 and then ran the Bears defense in 2019 and 2020 before heading into retirement.
The Ravens are bringing in a veteran coach in Chuck Pagano for the 2025 season, but they are also parting ways with a longtime member of John Harbaugh’s staff.
Tom Pelissero of NFL Media reports that assistant head coach and defensive pass game coordinator Chris Hewitt is leaving the team. The decision is reportedly a mutual one.
Hewitt joined the Ravens in 2012 as an assistant special teams coach and he moved on to coaching the secondary in 2015. He added the coordinator title in 2020 and the assistant head coach title in 2024.
That’s a long run on one staff for any assistant, but Hewitt’s relationship with Harbaugh goes even further back. Harbaugh was on the University of Cincinnati staff when Hewitt played for the Bearcats in the mid-1990s.
Chuck Pagano is back.
After a four-year retirement, the long-time assistant coach and one-time head coach of the Colts will join the Ravens as the team’s senior secondary coach. The Ravens announced the move on Tuesday night.
Doug Mallory is Baltimore’s secondary coach. He joined the Ravens in 2024.
Pagano previously worked for the Ravens from 2008 to 2011, before getting the Colts’ head-coaching job. He beat leukemia during his first year in Indy, where he coached through 2017.
Most recently, Pagano served as the Bears’ defensive coordinator in 2019 and 2020.
Pagano, 64, had a 53-43 regular-season record with the Colts, taking the team to the playoffs three times.
The Bills were hoping to be occupied with Super Bowl planning this week, but their loss to the Chiefs last Sunday means that their players are free for other things.
On Tuesday, the team announced that two more members of the club will be in Orlando for the Pro Bowl games. Running back James Cook has been selected as a replacement for Ravens running back Derrick Henry and Connor McGovern will take the place of Chiefs center Creed Humphrey.
Cook is going to the Pro Bowl for the second straight year. Cook tied for the league lead with 18 touchdowns during the regular season and he scored three more times in the postseason.
McGovern is in the Pro Bowl for the first time. Left tackle Dion Dawkins and quarterback Josh Allen were selected for the original roster, although Allen said he may not go to Orlando because of a wrist injury.
