The Pittsburgh Steelers and head coach Mike Tomlin have been adamant about wanting to see all three of their top corners on the field at the same time. Why wouldn’t they want Jalen Ramsey, Darius Slay and Joey Porter Jr. out there? That’s a great group of players to have covering opposing wide receivers.
But Tomlin has also said that Jalen Ramsey is the Steelers’ top corner. That means he’ll follow a team’s top receiver around the field when the Steelers want that. However, it gives former Steelers CB Bryant McFadden pause.
“I think the biggest question I have, a lot of times when you look at Ja’Marr Chase, he’s either the X or Z. And if Jalen is going to be our nickel and Ja’Marr is either X or Z, if you have Jalen following Ja’Marr, who plays the nickel for us?” McFadden asked Friday when he joined The PM Team on 93.7 The Fan. “Because if you look at the overall professional resume of Darius Slay, he’s never been an inside guy. He’s always been an outside guy. And of course, Joey has been an outside guy as well.
“So if that’s the situation where we’re playing Cincinnati, who plays the inside?” McFadden asked again. “Because we know Jalen is going to be our nickel guy. He’s played nickel throughout his professional career and excelled at that position. But if that’s the case, who plays nickel? ”
Tomlin has said that he doesn’t care what kind of formation opposing offenses come out in. He wants all three on the field. But it is a valid question: If Jalen Ramsey, the only one of the three corners with NFL experience playing slot at a high level, follows a wide receiver around outside of the slot, what happens to the rest of the secondary?
Obviously, the Steelers have other players with inside/slot corner experience. Beanie Bishop Jr. played that position as an undrafted rookie. Brandin Echols has some experience there with the New York Jets as well, but he projects more as a backup outside corner.
So, would the Steelers actually pull Slay or Porter off the field to put Bishop in the slot? That does go against what Tomlin has said. He wants all three on the field all the time, if possible. One option could be that the Steelers pull a safety off the field for a slot corner.
The other option is that the Steelers only use Jalen Ramsey to shadow an opposing wide receiver sparingly. Darius Slay has Super Bowl-winning experience with the Philadelphia Eagles. Joey Porter Jr. has experience shadowing top receivers in the AFC North. The Steelers don’t necessarily have to use Ramsey to shadow top receivers.
It will be very interesting to see what option the Steelers pick in Week 7, the first matchup against the Cincinnati Bengals. Regardless, the fact that the Steelers have three corners worthy of keeping on the field that much is a good thing.
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