The Pittsburgh Steelers defense has quickly fallen on hard times as of late. Despite being a veteran-heavy squad with a lot of star names, this group has been inconsistent all season and, for the most part, a very average unit.
Once such name that needs to be under a lot of scrutiny is Jalen Ramsey.
Once a superstar cornerback, Ramsey came to the Steelers with his athleticism declining. His time as a starting cornerback ended last year as Pittsburgh began using him in a variety of alignments, more specifically in the slot and at safety.
Heading into year two, the hope was that Ramsey could settle in as a safety/slot cornerback and return to form as a dynamic defender. Through four games, that hasn’t been the case, and it is costing the Steelers greatly.
Jalen Ramsey is quietly handicapping the Pittsburgh Steelers
Let’s start with his play as a whole: Ramsey has been fine this year. He hasn’t given up many big plays, and his tackling has been sound. All in all, he has been an above-average member of the secondary.
He's racked up 18 total tackles, has forced a fumble, and has only allowed 12 catches. All of those numbers scream average defender.
PFF tends to agree with me, as he has a 68.6 grade and ranks 28th out of 92 safeties that have been graded. Not horrible, but certainly not elite.
Ramsey isn’t a cheap player, though, and he isn’t living up to his contract.
Currently, he is getting paid $24.1 million per season. That makes him the eighth-highest-paid cornerback in the league (a position he currently isn’t playing). As for the safety market, he is the third-highest-paid player at that position, ranking near Kyle Hamilton and Derwin James.
Ramsey isn’t playing anywhere near that level. He also isn’t young enough to warrant hoping that his play at safety will suddenly get that much better. In short, Ramsey is a massive overpay on the roster right now.
For all the complaints that I had with Minkah Fitzpatrick during his last few seasons here, his contract was cheaper, and he provided the Steelers with a similar level of play. Ramsey is more flexible, but that isn’t worth the additional cost the team has had to take on.
There isn’t a clear way to resolve this. Ramsey feels like an easy cut candidate this offseason, but that comes with some dead money as well. It also means that the team doesn’t get any compensation for Ramsey once he goes to a new team.
He could be traded in the offseason, but given the contract, that doesn’t feel likely. If he were to be traded, it feels like Ramsey would be moved before the deadline to a competitive team where he could push that team over the edge.
What doesn’t seem likely is that Ramsey is playing in Pittsburgh on the same contract next year. Since I can’t envision a world where he takes a pay cut, that means he is already an early cap casualty candidate this early in the season.
With so much money invested in him, it feels like the team handicapped themselves by keeping him another season. He isn’t playing at a high level, yet he is costing the Steelers a ton of money. No, he isn't the reason the Joey Porter Jr. deal fell apart, but his cash flow isn't helping the team.
The Ramsey experiment hasn’t been great, and while the Dolphins (and now the Jets) haven’t gotten a lot out of Fitzpatrick, it feels like Pittsburgh still got the short end of this deal. Unless he picks up his play, this feels like his final stretch of time in Pittsburgh.
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