The Pittsburgh Steelers made an aggressive trade this summer by shipping out long-time free safety Minkah Fitzpatrick in favor of Jalen Ramsey. While listed as a cornerback, the plan was to utilize Ramsey all over the secondary.
So far, Pittsburgh has failed to truly use him like a swiss army knife. Most of that has been due to injury, as it has forced Ramsey to split time between the slot and as an outside cornerback.
While not an elite defender anymore, Ramsey has still played at an extremely high level. However, there are some problems brewing here.
Unfortunately, it looks like the Steelers now have a massive Ramsey problem on their hands.
While a solution isn’t needed right this second, once the offseason sets in, it will be an entirely different story. It could lead to Ramsey’s time in Pittsburgh being short.
The Pittsburgh Steelers need to figure out their Jalen Ramsey problem
The problem with Ramsey isn’t his play in a vacuum. His outside cornerback play has been serviceable, albeit not as good as you would have hoped due to failing speed. His play in the slot has been excellent, especially in the run game. As a safety, while limited, it has also been good.
As Ramsey gets older, it is becoming abundantly clear that he needs to be playing in the slot more, if not exclusively. Given his decline in athleticism, a permanent move to safety with slot duties would be his best fit.
Again, on paper, that isn’t a bad thing. The Steelers have lacked a good slot cornerback for a long time, and having Ramsey serve as both a starting free safety and slot cornerback is valuable.
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When you consider his contract though, that is where the issue comes into play.
After being traded to the Steelers, Ramsey adjusted his contract to better fit how Pittsburgh does deals. This also gave him an average annual salary of around $24 million a season. That puts him in the top five in terms of cornerback contracts.
If you compare that to the safety market, Ramsey is suddenly the second-highest paid player at that position in the league. If you look at pure slot defenders, it gets even worse. The top-paid slot defender is Kyler Gordon, who is currently getting paid over $10 million less per year on his current deal.
For a fanbase that said Fitzpatrick was overpaid, they are going to have that exact same issue with Ramsey next year.
You can get out of his contract next year with minimal long-term cap issues, but then your secondary is once again stripped of talent. You can play him as a safety and slot cornerback. But at that point, you are paying for his name more than his actual value.
What you shouldn’t do is keep Ramsey at outside cornerback. He is playing his worst games there, and forcing him to stay there hurts everyone.
People were quick to say that the Steelers won the Fitzpatrick-Ramsey trade. I would agree with that, but the deal may be a short-lived one, and Ramsey poses just as many questions as he provides solutions.