PITTSBURGH — Versatile defensive back Jalen Ramsey will continue to play safety for at least another week, coach Mike Tomlin said on Tuesday.
With injuries and an illness plaguing the Steelers’ safety group, Tomlin shifted Ramsey to safety against the Colts, and with the availability of several players still in question, Ramsey will remain there against the Los Angeles Chargers.
“Jalen will continue to work exclusively at safety,” Tomlin said. “We value his play, his positional flexibility. It’s an asset to us. It gives a lot of people things to work on, but certainly under the circumstances that we’re under right now, we deemed that appropriate as we did last week in terms of nailing him down there.”
He spent time at safety prior to the Colts game, but that win was the first time Ramsey played exclusively at that position. The Steelers entered that matchup down their top three safeties: DeShon Elliott (knee, IR), Chuck Clark (illness) and Jabrill Peppers (quad). Because they had more depth at cornerback, Tomlin shifted Ramsey to safety, pairing him with newly acquired safety Kyle Dugger. As a result, Brandin Echols played more snaps at nickel, and James Pierre played some snaps outside opposite either Joey Porter Jr. or Darius Slay.
The Steelers acquired Ramsey in a blockbuster trade from the Miami Dolphins earlier this year in large part because of his flexibility. Though he spent most of his career at outside corner, the Steelers always envisioned being able to use him all over the defensive backfield.
“It’s just his relationship with the game,” Tomlin said, explaining what makes Ramsey a good safety. “… He’s got really good instincts, he’s got really good passion for the game. He studies the game, and I think those are some things that really enable him to play back there and that’s such a major component of that position.”
Ramsey recorded five solo tackles and played 98.6 percent of defensive snaps Sunday. Dugger, meanwhile, played just one fewer snap than Ramsey in his first game with the Steelers. He recorded one solo tackle and three combined tackles just three days after his first practice with the team. Afterward, Tomlin gave him a game ball.
Tomlin was coy when asked if he thought the Steelers needed to add additional safeties to help a thin position or if Ramsey’s position flexibility diminished that need.
“It really depends on player availability,” he said. “It’s certainly an asset of [Ramsey’s] . It is something that he’s open to doing. It’s something that he’s capable of, but as I mentioned when I was talking about Derwin James, those things don’t happen in a vacuum. They involve others and others movement as well, and so we’ll make those decisions based on what’s available to us.”
Acquired a week ago, Dugger is the lone trade made by the Steelers heading into Tuesday’s 4 p.m. trade deadline – at least so far. The team officially signed former Packers wide receiver Marquez Valdes-Scantling to the practice squad Tuesday, but Tomlin didn’t say if Valdes-Scantling’s addition precluded them from seeking additional receiver help before the deadline.
Prior to trading for Dugger last week, Tomlin said the Steelers were “buyers” ahead of the deadline. Tuesday, Tomlin smiled when asked if he envisioned doing any additional shopping.
“We’ll see what happens.” he said. “I like shopping.”
