When the Pittsburgh Steelers acquired Jalen Ramsey, it was clear they expected him to play multiple roles on defense. His physicality, plus his ability to play in the nickel, allows him to do so. With Darius Slay and Joey Porter Jr. able to play outside, Ramsey playing the Swiss Army knife role makes a lot of sense.
It worked a little bit to begin the season. But Ramsey, as well as the rest of the Steelers’ secondary, had a brutal game against the Cincinnati Bengals on Thursday. Now, former Steeler Ryan Clark is wondering if the Steelers should re-think how they deploy Ramsey.
“Because he is so special, because he is so talented, because he can do so many diverse things from an intellectual standpoint, he might be doing too much,” Clark said Friday on ESPN’s First Take. “This is a guy that’s played free safety, nickel, dime, and that’s played outside corner. You’re asking a player to move and maneuver into all those roles, and they may have to have an understanding that Jalen Ramsey has to be this thing for the Pittsburgh Steelers. And we have to play this way.”
Clark alludes to Ramsey playing in one specific role going forward, rather than moving all over the field. That may not be a bad idea. In pass coverage, he’s allowing a 69.2-percent completion rate and a 103.7 passer rating when targeted. He’s been solid as a run defender, with 26 tackles and just three missed tackles. Most of that comes from him playing in the nickel or at safety where he can come downhill more. So moving him around does help bring out his talent as a run defender.
However, in pass coverage, it may not be working. The completion rate and passer rating Jalen Ramsey is allowing are both significantly higher than his previous career-worst season, which came in 2019 with a 66.2-percent completion rate and an 89.6 passer rating allowed. He just hasn’t been good enough against the pass, and that was apparent on Thursday in the Steelers’ 33-31 loss.
For someone playing this many different roles, it’s got to be hard to go back and forth as often as he does. And any lapses he has in communication as a result also hurt the rest of the defense.
Ramsey wasn’t the only problem in the secondary, though, against the Bengals. The entire unit was bad, and that points directly to the coaches. They can’t make plays, but they sure weren’t putting their defenders in the best position to do so. Teryl Austin and Mike Tomlin made zero adjustments throughout the game. No matter how many fade routes or slant routes Joe Flacco exploited, they changed absolutely nothing. Make no mistake, the secondary was bad. But the coaching staff did that group no favors, either.
Whether Jalen Ramsey is in the wrong role or not could signal another coaching problem. But the bottom line is something has to change. It probably won’t, but it could benefit Ramsey, who’s having arguably his worst statistical season in pass coverage, to have a simpler role going forward.
