Losing Minkah Fitzpatrick was a shock to Pittsburgh Steelers fans and some of the players themselves. But in return, Jalen Ramsey provides a lot of talent and, importantly, flexibility. By getting a corner who can play in so many roles, defensive coordinator Teryl Austin believes the defense becomes more flexible as a whole.
“Specifically, you’re talking about T.J. [Watt] moving around, doing some different things,” Austin said, speaking on the Breakfast With Benz podcast from training camp on Tuesday. “You wanna be able to back it up with good coverage on the back end. And whether that’s man [coverage] or that’s zone, you have to have the pieces to do it. And I think he gives us a little bit of flexibility, if we need to play a little bit more man to do that stuff, we should be able to.”
Fitzpatrick had a solid year in 2024, but Ramsey did as well, and is much more of a chess piece. At cornerback, he can play both outside and in the slot. He has the physicality needed to compete with bigger receivers outside, but has transitioned to the slot well at times in his career. Notably, he played in the slot during the Los Angeles Rams’ Super Bowl run in the 2021 season and earned First-Team All-Pro honors.
In Pittsburgh, safety is more of a question. Although the Steelers did bring in Juan Thornhill and Chuck Clark, it’s hard to replace Fitzpatrick. Ramsey has also spent some time at safety during training camp. That said, most of his work will come at cornerback, probably on the inside. A three-headed trio of Jalen Ramsey, Darius Slay and Joey Porter Jr. is scary for any offense.
One reason for that is their ability to play man-coverage. All three of those players can do so, and that allows room for experimentation across the unit, as Austin suggests. Towards the end of the 2024 season, the Steelers couldn’t stop the run, and they weren’t getting much of a pass rush without blitzing.
So far, they’ve been much more experimental with both Watt and Alex Highsmith, moving each around the field to get some different looks. Having three corners who can play man coverage allows them to blitz more freely as well. Last season, the Steelers were around the middle of the pack, blitzing on 25.9 percent of their opponents’ dropbacks. That number should increase this year.
Ramsey won’t stick to one spot, but that’s good for this defense. The Steelers want to mix things up more defensively, and Jalen Ramsey will be right in the middle of it all.
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