Steelers 2025 Secondary: The Bermuda Triangle?

The newest name on the Steelers roster is Jalen Ramsey. Ramsey is a versatile back-end player for the Steelers’ secondary. Most commonly, Ramsey is known as being a lockdown outside cornerback, but that doesn’t tell the whole story. Last year alone, Ramsey played 180 snaps at slot cornerback and 80 snaps in the ‘box.’ These are both spots he’s familiar with, dating back to his time at Florida State. Slot cornerback is where Ramsey fits best within the Steelers’ defense. 

Playing defense in 2025 is all about making the right matchups. Offensive coaches find ways to use their best players in a variety of positions, to exploit weaknesses against the defense’s personnel and schematics. The more pieces a defense has, the better it can protect itself from this. Ramsey’s versatility will provide the Steelers more flexibility in 2025.  

On early downs, Ramsey will serve as an outside support player in the run game, responsible for taking on blocks and fitting the run. This is certainly within his skill set.

In the pass game within the base Steelers’ cover 3, he will be an underneath defender, mostly operating as a curl flat dropper as illustrated below:

In man coverage situations, Ramsey will be asked to match up against TEs; he has the size and athleticism required to cover some of the big-play threats the Steelers will face in 2025. Sam LePorta, Mark Andrews, T.J. Hockenson, David Njoku, and Dalton Kincaid. In summary, the Steelers would love Ramsey to be the Baltimore version of Marlon Humphrey. 

What About the Other Additions?

The next addition is Darius Slay. Slay is primarily an outside cornerback. Slay should start at left cornerback. In 2024, Slay played zero snaps as the outside cornerback on the right-hand side of the defense. Slay offers a veteran presence for Joey Porter Jr and can still play at a high level. Coming off a Super Bowl win with the Eagles, he’ll be ready to impart his knowledge on Porter and Trice.

In the case of Juan Thornhill, the safety was drafted in 2019 by the Chiefs in the second round. Thornhill has been hit or miss, despite this, he can play at a starting level in the NFL. His best position is as the deep middle of the field safety. He’s got good range; he ran a 4.42 40-yard dash at the combine. He is good at driving down on routes, and he’s competitive at the catch point.

Who Misses Out?

Given that the majority of the snaps the Steelers play are in Nickel, Beanie Bishop will be most affected by the addition of Ramsey. Regardless of how well Bishop performed as a rookie, it’s harder to chart a path to this role with the additions of Echols and Ramsey.

Cory Trice and James Pierre will compete for the fourth outside cornerback slot. This is based on the assumption that Ramsey doubles up as the first-choice slot and third-choice outside cornerback.  One big factor to consider is the ability to play special teams, with Pierre being an excellent gunner on the punt team. 

What About Base Personnel?

The Steelers’ “base” personnel remains three defensive linemen, four linebackers, and four defensive backs. Expect to see Jalen Ramsey align at safety in these situations. This is the most intriguing element of the Ramsey addition, as it’s a position he’s less familiar with. 

The Bermuda Triangle 

The biggest reason for optimism is that the Steelers now have three legitimate cover corners on the roster. In passing downs, it will be fascinating to see how the Steelers deploy Porter Jr, Ramsey, and Slay to disappear opposing pass catchers.

Former Ravens GM Ozzie Newsome is fond of saying, “You can never have too many corners”. This is something the Steelers have subscribed to in 2025.