The Pittsburgh Steelers made one of the biggest moves in NFL history earlier this summer when they traded away stalwart safety Minkah Fitzpatrick for Jalen Ramsey and Jonnu Smith. While Smith certainly adds value to the offense, the biggest pieces in this deal were Ramsey for Fitzpatrick.
While adding a supreme talent like Ramsey is a good thing, the question was always how the Steelers would use all of their cornerbacks. They have three talented, but historically outside-only defenders in their secondary.
Just a few practices into training camp, it has become clear that the Steelers don’t know what they are doing with Ramsey, and it could come back to bite the team.
While it was speculated earlier, it seems like Ramsey is going to be a pseudo-safety and slot defender. Given his career success and where that came at, this seems like a monumental mistake.
The Pittsburgh Steelers are getting too creative with Jalen Ramsey
Mike Tomlin made it official early on: he said that the plan is to have Ramsey, Joey Porter Jr., and Darius Slay on the field at all times. When in subpackage sets, that is clear, with Ramsey playing in the slot.
However, this defense still plays base defense 30-40 percent of the time. That only requires two cornerbacks on the field. It seems like the plan is to use Ramsey at free safety in those looks.
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This seems like a massive blunder for the Steelers. Ramsey has put together an impressive resume of play, and even though his time in Miami was underwhelming, he was still a great player.
However, most of his success has come at outside cornerback. While I am more comfortable with him being an outside cornerback and slot defender in base defense (he has worn that hat for defenses in the past), adding safety into the mix seems like a stretch.
Per PFF, for his career, Ramsey has played 6,387 snaps at outside cornerback. That is his bread and butter. He has also seen 1,235 snaps in the slot, with a lot of that coming during his best-rated seasons. Using him in those roles is proven.
In comparison, he has 125 career snaps at free safety and 660 in the box. Sure, he has the talent to still play well there, but using your top prize from a massive trade at a position that he has barely been utilized at seems unwise.
No, this doesn’t mean Ramsey will be a bust for the Steelers, but using him so out of position from where he has had previous success seems like a waste. This isn’t the first time the team has tried to make someone more versatile as opposed to their natural position. From DeMarvin Leal’s lack of a true position to even playing Kavin Dotson on the wrong side of the line.
Can it work? Sure, and perhaps Ramsey finds his best fit on defense for the latter half of his career. But given what you had to give up for him, playing him so out of position seems like an early mistake.