When the Pittsburgh Steelers traded for Jalen Ramsey in late June, one of the biggest questions was what position he would play. Ramsey has mostly been an outside corner in the NFL, but he’s seen time at slot corner, and he even played some safety in college. The Steelers chose not to pigeonhole him, committing to using Ramsey at multiple positions. Analyst Greg Cosell believes the Steelers would be best served just playing him in the slot, though.
“We all think of Jalen Ramsey, great player, but they play him in multiple spots,” Cosell said recently on the Ross Tucker Football Podcast. “They play him outside at times. They play him in the slot at times. Against the Bengals, he played 33 snaps at slot corner, 26 snaps at outside corner.
“He was the guy who got beat by [Tee] Higgins on that last play that set up the game-winning field goal. Ramsey’s been beat a bit when he’s played on the outside this year as a man-to-man cover corner. At this point in his career, he’s probably best as a slot corner.”
In the Steelers’ last game, Ramsey had a brutal outing. While that final rep against Higgins was the nail in the Steelers’ coffin, Ja’Marr Chase beat Ramsey multiple times throughout the game. He looked overmatched.
Part of the reason why the Steelers traded for Ramsey was to better guard top-tier receivers like Chase. Mike Tomlin said they anticipated the corner guarding No. 1 receivers more often than not. Unfortunately, he hasn’t lived up to that billing.
While Ramsey has been good at times this season, he’s struggled with consistency. The same could be said about the rest of the Steelers’ defense, though, especially the secondary. That group has greatly underwhelmed.
Perhaps moving Ramsey to one spot and keeping him there would help. He’s a very intelligent player, and he’s been praised for his acumen to learn multiple positions. However, it might be better for Ramsey to be a master of one rather than a jack of all trades. That could help solve the Steelers’ communication issues on the back end of their defense.
However, that would leave Darius Slay and Joey Porter Jr. as the Steelers’ outside corners. Porter has battled injuries this and Slay has looked his age. Therefore, Ramsey still might have some use on the boundary. The solution to the Steelers’ defensive issues might be more complicated than just Ramsey settling into one position.
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