In the offseason, the Steelers made one of their biggest splashes in recent memory when they swung a deal with the Miami Dolphins to bring Jalen Ramsey to Pittsburgh. The deal also included Jonnu Smith changing teams and a pick swap, but what raised the most eyebrows at the time was the inclusion of Minkah Fitzpatrick in the package going back to Miami.
There was speculation during the offseason that Ramsey would be on the move with reports of Pittsburgh being one of the interested teams. Fitzpatrick wasn’t a name that many expected would be included in a return.
The move signaled that Pittsburgh was ready to make drastic changes to its defense. The NFL is as pass-happy as it’s ever been and being able to cover elite receivers — and in the case of the division rival Bengals, multiple elite receivers — is as important as it’s ever been.
In recent years, the Steelers cornerbacks have been a weakness of their defense. Donte Jackson, Levi Wallace and Patrick Peterson were some names that they relied on as starters to mixed results. This offseason, a major shift in priorities for defensive personnel resulted in former All-Pro cornerback Darius Slay joining the team on a year deal. Brandin Echols also joined the club as an under-the-radar signing who’s shown he can cover. The cherry on top, though was Ramsey.
These three newcomers, along with incumbent third year starter Joey Porter Jr. gave the Steelers a deep, talented crop of corners that could combat the modern day passing attack.
Ramsey was praised for his versatility and all comments in the offseason indicated that he would be used as a chess piece on the defense. “He’s a utility back, and by that I mean he’s versatile,” said Mike Tomlin during training camp. “He plays outside, he plays nickel, he plays safety.”
But it was made clear that when the Steelers matched up against elite wide receivers, Ramsey would be the man to shadow them.Â
Last week, Ramsey and the rest of the Steelers defense was torched by the Bengals. Ja’Marr Chase had a career day with 16 catches for 161 yards and a touchdown. Tee Higgins also feasted with 6 receptions for 96 yards with one score. He also caught the game-sealing deep shot on the final drive to set up a field goal by beating Ramsey one-on-one.
The unnerving performance of the secondary against Cincinnati was enough for Ray Fittipaldo of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette to wonder if they would shift to playing more zone than man for the second half of the season.
“They’re kind of stuck right now at that position. Maybe they play more zone in the second half of the season,” Fittipaldo said on SiriusXM NFL Radio. “That’s gonna go against everything that Mike Tomlin talked about this summer. You know, it’s gonna have to really deviate from their original plan.”
Fittipaldo pondered the immediate changes that the Steelers might need to make but also acknowledged that the Bengals receivers present a unique challenge for any defense.
“Maybe it was just a case of, you know, you’re not gonna face a duo like the Bengals duo every single week,” Fittipaldo continued. But certainly, and, and Teryl Austin and Tomlin talked about it this week, they’re not where they thought they would be from a coverage standpoint, but they’re still hoping these guys are veterans. They’re pros. They’re hoping they figure it out in the next couple of weeks before they get into crunch time.”
We are off and running on @SiriusXMNFL & https://t.co/jdx5HDlCJv with @jetswhispers & yours truly previewing and making picks for Week 8. We’ll be joined soon by @rayfitt1 to talk about #Steelers–#Packers. pic.twitter.com/xCLqyQgpdQ
— Vic Carucci (@viccarucci) October 25, 2025
According to Football Insights on X, the Steelers are using zone coverage 60% of the time this season. So maybe they aren’t as committed to man coverage as some of their comments in the offseason seemed to foreshadow. However, given the performance in Cincinnati and the number of times that Bengals receivers won matchups when facing one-on-one situations, it’s fair to wonder if more of a shift towards man coverage is coming.
Team coverage rates through Week 7
Via @FantasyPtsData pic.twitter.com/st3bFbFGhV
— Football Insights 📊 (@fball_insights) October 21, 2025
Teryl Austin pointed to the defense’s inability to stop the run as a reason for their struggles in pass defense. But as Fittipaldo noted, Tomlin and Austin will definitely give their veteran defensive backs a chance to right the ship before making too many drastic changes.
Perhaps Jalen Ramsey’s days as an elite shutdown corner are behind him. He is still valuable to this Steelers defense because of his versatility including his abilities at safety. This week’s game against a good quarterback in Jordan Love and a Packers offense with a number of receiving threats will be another test for this defense.
