With free-agent linebacker Kwon Alexander working out for the first time since suffering a torn Achilles in the Steelers-Packers game on Nov. 12, former Steelers linebacker Terence Garvin thinks Pittsburgh should bring Alexander back and pair him with Patrick Queen.
“Oh man, Pat Queen and Kwon in the same room,” Garvin said on the possibility of Alexander re-signing with the Steelers on the Arthur Moats Experience With Deke Podcast. “That’s an explosive little core. You get that (Achilles) healed up. That might not be a bad one to bring back in there. He was playing really well (last year).”
Alexander joined the Steelers on a one-year contract after the start of training camp. In nine games, he recorded 41 tackles, which was fourth on the team at the time of his injury. He also had five tackles for loss, one sack, two quarterback hits, one forced fumble, and one pass defended.
Alexander, 29, is an eight-year veteran that has played with five teams.
The 6-foot-1, 227-pounder was selected in the fourth round of the 2015 NFL Draft by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers out of LSU and started as a 21-year-old rookie for the Bucs. Alexander led the NFL with 108 solo tackles in 2016 and made his first and only Pro Bowl in 2017.
Injuries slowed him down after that, with a torn ACL costing him most of the 2018 season. After signing a four-year, $54 million free agent contract with the San Francisco 49ers in 2019, a torn pectoral muscle ended that season early.
Alexander was traded to the New Orleans Saints, and played 19 games over a season and half there before moving on to New York.
In 2022 with the New York Jets, he played in all 17 games, making 12 starts, and recorded 69 tackles, six tackles for loss, a half sack, two quarterback hits, one forced fumble and one pass defended.
The Steelers signed linebacker Patrick Queen to a three-year, $41 million last month. It’s the largest free-agent signing in Steelers’ history by almost $5 million annually. Queen is set to be paired with Elandon Roberts or Cole Holcomb at the inside linebacker position.
Holcomb suffered a severe season-ending knee injury in Week 8 last season and needed surgery. But Holcomb did post a video of himself working out earlier last month and it seems that he is improving. But Mike Tomlin said at the NFL owner’s meetings that he still does not have a definitive update on him.
“He just had a checkup a few weeks back and it was a favorable one, but I don’t have any details about calendar from a calendar perspective or levels of availability and when I still think we are decent ways out and I’d be speculating,” Tomlin said.
If Holcomb’s knee is an issue or an injury at the position happens during the season, the Steelers could re-sign Alexander, pending on how his recovery goes.
