The Pittsburgh Steelers made several additions to their secondary this offseason. With grand hopes of it all panning out, the Steelers thought they’d be one of the better defenses in the league with players like Jalen Ramsey and Darius Slay in the secondary. Unfortunately, that could not be further from what it’s actually been. Slay has especially struggled and started to see his playing time reduced during Sunday’s loss to Green Bay.
During his weekly chat with the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Steelers insider Ray Fittipaldo was asked for his thoughts on Mike Tomlin’s talent evaluation. He’s not fond of it, and he’s ready to move on from the Slay experiment as well
“Not a very high opinion at the moment,” Fittipaldo wrote. “He clearly missed on the Slay evaluation. That was a waste of money. Ramsey remains an effective player in the slot and at safety, but Tomlin had visions of him still being a shutdown CB. That’s no longer the case, and that’s on Tomlin for putting him in bad situations.”
Slay has been bad. He’s allowing a 76.7-percent completion rate and a passer rating of 112.6 when targeted. Those are bad numbers, and it’s certainly not the same form Slay has shown in the past. However, the problems aren’t limited to coverage. Slay has 27 tackles on the year, but he’s missing them at an alarmingly high rate. He’s already missed seven tackles this season, just one shy of his previous career-high of eight in 2021.
While Slay has struggled, he’s not alone in the secondary. The Steelers got the players they wanted this offseason, but they just aren’t playing well. Jalen Ramsey isn’t, but he’s also unable to settle into one specific role. He could see even more time at safety with DeShon Elliott’s injury. And Joey Porter Jr. isn’t showing any signs of progress in his third year either.
But even behind those stars, some other role players have struggled. Take a look at the coverage from Juan Thornhill and Brandin Echols here.
Considering the way Jordan Love floats this pass, and where it drops between two defenders, this ball should never have been caught. And these types of third and long lapses have been killing the defense throughout the year. On that play, the Steelers blitzed their linebackers and played man coverage across the board with one deep safety. That’s something we often see from them on third downs. It hasn’t worked throughout the year, yet we’re not seeing anything different.
Until it does, there’s a good chance the Steelers continue to look bad defensively. And if big offseason additions like Darius Slay and Jalen Ramsey don’t start to perform better soon, more questions will be asked about Tomlin and the front office.
