The Pittsburgh Steelers suffered two concerning injuries in their 24-21 win over the Minnesota Vikings, none bigger than DB Jalen Ramsey. He’s not just another member of the secondary—he’s the chess piece at the center of the defense, moving around to disguise coverages and disrupt offenses. An initial report indicated he would be out for at least several games, but one beat writer is more optimistic on his outlook.
“I think that’s gonna be a couple games,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s Ray Fittipaldo said Wednesday via 93.7 The Fan’s Morning Show. “It’s a shame because Joey Porter [Jr.] was scheduled to come back and Joey got hurt in the first game. And we listened to [Mike] Tomlin all summer talk about the plans that he had for the secondary, and how they were gonna attack these teams with their coverage and putting guys on islands. And we might not see it until the second half of the season.”
Pittsburgh is already a quarter through its 2025 schedule as it enters the bye week. The Steelers will then play 13-straight games to finish the regular season, and hopefully another couple games beyond that in the playoffs. So far, they’ve only had 26 snaps with all of their top defensive backs available to them.
Porter and DeShon Elliott were the first wave of injuries, and now they will deal with Ramsey’s absence as the other two return. The first phase stressed communication with a secondary full of players new to the Steelers’ defense. Now this phase will stress them in other ways. Their depth immediately takes a hit at wide corner, slot corner, and safety.
The team hasn’t offered a Ramsey update, leaving only outside reports to go on. Gerry Dulac suggested Ramsey could miss “several” weeks, while Fittipaldo is now speculating the absence might be closer to a couple of games.
Porter dealt with a hamstring injury that has held him out of three games so far. Perhaps Ramsey will need a similar timeline.
The good news? That timeline would give Ramsey the bye week and then two easier matchups against the struggling Cleveland Browns and the Joe Burrow-less Cincinnati Bengals. The bad news? If it lasts any longer than that, the Steelers will be missing him against the Green Bay Packers, Indianapolis Colts, and Los Angeles Chargers in the weeks following. The schedule only gets more difficult after Week 7.
Jalen Ramsey’s injury leaves the Steelers’ secondary thin at every spot just as they were about to be whole there again. If the optimistic timeline holds, they might weather his absence during a softer stretch of the schedule. But if it drags on, Pittsburgh’s defense could find itself shorthanded against much tougher opponents in the weeks ahead.
