As the Pittsburgh Steelers prepare to face a talented Baltimore Ravens team on Sunday, one storyline you've likely already heard about is Diontae Johnson looking to stick it to his former team. A third-round pick of the Steelers in 2019, Johnson was traded from Pittsburgh to a disastrous Carolina Panthers franchise before landing with the Ravens at the trade deadline.
The former leading receiver of the Steelers was forced to hit rock bottom on the league's worst team before being given a shot at redemption with a Super Bowl contender. Now Johnson isn't going to squander his opportunity to serve a dish of payback to the team that sent him packing.
On Sunday, the Steelers and Ravens will square off in a heated divisional battle with AFC North implications on the line. But as badly as Johnson would love to ball out on his revenge tour, he doesn't hold a candle to Patrick Queen.
Steelers LB Patrick Queen will seek revenge vs. Ravens
Queen was a first-round pick by the Ravens in 2020. After a slow start to his NFL career, the speedy linebacker started to look like the player Baltimore drafted him to be. Queen flew around the field -- routinely making plays in the backfield while showing off his remarkable athletic traits.
But instead of being rewarded by the Ravens with a rich new contract, Baltimore let him walk in free agency in favor of their shiny new toy, Roquan Smith. After trading for one of the league's best linebackers, the Ravens awarded Smith with a lofty five-year, $100 million contract extension in 2023.
While Smith is and has been the better linebacker of the two, fans from both the Ravens and the Steelers claimed that Queen was only good because of playing next to Roquan Smith. Now it's time for the apprentice to become the master.
When Queen takes the field on Sunday against his former team, it will be with an unrivaled vendetta. The former first-round pick is out to prove that he doesn't need an All-Pro linebacker next to him to be a great player, and he would love nothing more than to put up a career performance against the Ravens in what could prove to be the biggest game of the year for the Steelers.
Diontae Johnson is eager for opportunities to humiliate his former team, but with an array of skill players at Lamar Jackson's disposal, chances for Johnson to make his presence felt at Acrisure Stadium on Sunday could be limited. In his first two games with Baltimore, Johnson has barely been utilized.
On the other hand, Queen is coming off arguably the best performance of his Steelers career to date after tying Minkah Fitzpatrick with a team-high 64 defensive snaps. All signs point to Patrick Queen (not Diontae Johnson) being the player who will show up and ball out against his former team in Week 11.