While Pittsburgh Steelers CB Jalen Ramsey hasn’t been ruled out of Sunday’s game yet, Ramsey did not practice yesterday, and he seems unlikely to suit up against the Cleveland Browns as he deals with a hamstring injury. During his press conference on Thursday, Steelers defensive coordinator Teryl Austin discussed how the defense will adjust without Ramsey.
“I don’t know if we have to be static, but just he does a bunch of different jobs. So certain people will pick up certain jobs that he does in that regard. So we’ll move forward, see what they do well, how they do it. There may be some things, obviously, that they can’t do that he does, and there may be some things that they do a little bit different than he does,” Austin said via Chris Adamski of TribLive on Twitter.
Not having Ramsey, who’s been a do-it-all defender for the Steelers, certainly poses a challenge, especially when it comes to defending the slot. The Steelers don’t have a built-in replacement on their active roster to take over the slot, although Brandin Echols played some in the slot with the New York Jets. One option may be the Steelers elevating Beanie Bishop Jr. from their practice squad to help handle some of those responsibilities.
But replacing Ramsey isn’t a job for just one player. It’s going to take multiple players to fill his role, and depending on how long he’s out, it could be a different group of players. Sunday will be a good test to see what personnel groupings work and what don’t, and the Steelers will be able to adjust from there.
With the Steelers having a short week coming off the Browns game on Sunday — they travel to Cincinnati to face the Bengals on Thursday Night Football in Week 7 — it’s going to be tough to get Ramsey back. It’ll be interesting to see how the Steelers mix and match their personnel to replace Ramsey, who’s often been tasked with taking away the team’s top receiver as well as working in the slot. That role could go to Joey Porter Jr., but Porter has missed the last three games due to injury, so Darius Slay could also be an option to cover Cleveland’s top receiver in Jerry Jeudy.
It’s no doubt a blow to lose Ramsey, and Austin is going to need to get creative to prevent a drop-off in play from Pittsburgh’s secondary.
