The Week 6 penalty list is out, and one Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker is facing severe punishment for his actions during the game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Although the penalty wasn’t flagged initially, league officials noted the infraction while reviewing the game and imposed a hefty fine.
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According to the NFL Week 6 Accountability list, Patrick Queen was fined $17,911 for ‘Unnecessary Roughness’ for a “hit on the defenseless player”. The incident occurred in the fourth quarter, with 7 minutes and 15 seconds left on the clock.
At 4th and 11, Queen charged towards Buccaneers wide receiver Emeka Egbuka helmet-first, leading to a brutal hit on the receiver’s shoulder on an incomplete pass from quarterback Jalon Daniels.
Egbuka officially entered the league’s concussion protocol this week and will be out for Week 7, leaving quarterback Baker Mayfield without his preferred target against the Carolina Panthers.
Bucs head coach Todd Bowles admitted that while he saw Queen’s infraction, he couldn’t tell if that was to blame for the receiver’s injury.
“We couldn’t figure out which play it was,” Bowles said. “I did [see Queen colliding with Egbuka], but there were several plays that it could have happened or not happened on.”
As for Patrick Queen, this is his first offense under the new 2026 NFL-NFLPA player safety mandates. If he commits two more infractions in the same category, the league will issue a higher fine each time, along with an automatic one-game ban on the third offense.
However, this is not the first time the Steelers player has been fined for being aggressive on the field.
Patrick Queen’s past penalties
Patrick Queen was penalized for two infractions last season. During the Steelers’ Week 2 clash against the Seattle Seahawks, Queen committed a similar infraction with 10:34 left in the first quarter.
As quarterback Sam Darnold threw a pass to wide receiver Tory Horton for a 21-yard touchdown, Queen executed a blitz and attempted to intercept the pass but instead hit Darnold and was fined $17,389.
Queen was penalized a second time in Week 6 for a hit on Cleveland Browns quarterback Dillon Gabriel. The league then imposed a $23,816 fine on him, making Queen one of the players with the highest penalties that season.
Queen’s track record began in 2020, when he was with the Baltimore Ravens. He was fined $13,007 for “unnecessary roughness” after he tackled then Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver Tyreek Hill during their Week 3 clash.
In the third quarter of the game, the (then-Ravens) linebacker grabbed Hill’s jersey while chasing him on a pass and managed to drag the wide receiver to the ground.
With 11 more games left in the 2026 season, it remains to be seen if Queen’s high-playing style and competitive nature will lead him to more penalties or if he will be able to temper his explosive talent with some much-needed discipline.