Jalen Ramsey ‘BRINGS EVERYTHING’ to the table for Pittsburgh + Lions’ biggest challenge | NFL Live

Jalen Ramsey ‘BRINGS EVERYTHING’ to the table for Pittsburgh + Lions’ biggest challenge | NFL Live

Guys, there’s a lot to get into today, so let’s go ahead and get to it. NFL Live wasn’t on the air last week, so we need to discuss all this happening with the Steelers and Dolphins trade. Aaron Rogers, you can see him working out with the Steelers wide outs in Malibu. More on that a little bit later. But let’s take you back to this Steelers Dolphins deal. Pittsburgh acquiring Jaylen Ramsay, who has the third most pass breakups since 2016. We knew he wasn’t going to stay in Miami. Now we know where he goes. Steelers also got John Smith, who tied a careerhigh with eight touchdowns last season. Mark Andrews was the only tight end with more. And in return, Minka Fitzpatrick is now a Dolphin. Since 2016, the only DBs named first team allpro three times, Jaylen Ramsay and Minka Fitzpatrick. All right, here’s a little more from Ryan Clark, our colleague, connecting with the greats. One Steelers connecting the greats, excuse me, one Steelers legend and the next. You see Troy Palamalo and Jaylen Ramsay on a little FaceTime there. I love that. Good facilitation there by RC. He lets that stuff happen. and got to get to it. All right, now let’s get right to work here with Allan. Does Ramsay, does this addition make sense to you from the Steelers side of things specifically? Definitely. I think it’s a great addition. I mean, whenever you can add a player like Jaylen Ramsey into the mix, um he’s very versatile in the secondary. He can play corner, I he can play nickel, he can play safety. So, for him being able to be involved in the mix when you’re going against T. Higgins and and the Jamar Chases of the world. I think being able to have a player who can directly impact guarding them and also blitzing and being able to be a a very physical player for them. Important points here, Laura, but the versatility of Jaylen Ramsey, I think, is an important part of this trade. And let’s also acknowledge that the Steelers are extremely confident they’re landing not just a very good player, but still an elite player. because Jaylen Ramsay was paid by Miami on a new deal last September that put him right at the top of the quarterback market. Part of this trade also involves Jaylen Ramsay getting a raise from Pittsburgh Loris, an extra $1.5 million as reported by Adam Shfter in this deal. So my the Steelers feel as though Jaylen Ramsay can be a player that even if on paper they already feel set at perimeter corner with Joey Porter Jr. and also Darius Slay acquired earlier this off season. Ramsay’s versatility is enough that they can just say we’ll figure out on the fly where he best fits for us. If you go back to his days with the Los Angeles Rams, he played a ton of slot corner for them. Kind of that big nickel spot as well within that scheme. And if you go all the way back to his days at Florida State in college, Mina, this is a player who has played safety, corner, nickel, you kind of name it. Jaylen Ramsay brings a little bit of everything to the table. man, he was such a good college prospect. People forget about that sometimes. Um, reflected of course in where he was drafted. Look, Jaylen Ramsey is not exactly the same corner he was five, six years ago going back to Jacksonville. But he’s still really talented, I think, at a couple of things that Pittsburgh needs, and Allan hit on it when you talked about how physical he is. He is still one of the best tackling corners in the league. He can guard tight ends. He can work the middle of the field. He’s tough. And I think when you think about the Steelers and the team that’s given the most trouble last year in particular, that’s the Baltimore Ravens. And no, he doesn’t entirely help them solve the problems in terms of dealing with the Ravens run game and all the motion. But I do think that physicality will be useful. I do think that ability to handle tight ends is useful against that particular team. So to me, this feels very calculated. You know, when you see these player-to-play player trades, you have a team like Pittsburgh. Obviously, they saw something in Ramsay in particular that they wanted. And when you think about their opponents, it makes sense. Yeah. You mean to touch on it? He’s not the same guy, but they don’t necessarily need him to be the same guy. You don’t need Jaylen Ramsey to come in and say, “Okay, be a lock down corner like you’ve been in the past. He is physical. He’s a ball hawk.” But when I’ve co I cover the Steelers so much and you look at the defense, but behind it’s the depth for me that I like this move. I like adding it seems like the Steelers are all in. Whether you agree with the moves, you agree with the quarterback, the Steelers as a franchise, they are telling you we are all in and they’re making the moves to prove it. The big question to me is the TJ Watt of it all. I’m not concerned yet. I’ll be concerned if we’re inching closer to week one and he’s not on the field, but Aaron Rogers has said when we get TJ in the fold, things will be good. And I think they know that they’re going to have TJ. So you add Jaylen Ramsay, you add TJ in the mix. I like this group. Yeah, I’m glad you brought that up. TJ Watt, I mean, you can’t really think about the Steelers defense of late past few years and not think about it. What do you think about how they should handle the TJ Watt situation getting that deal done? You know, I think for them, uh, their defense is based around the front seven and TJ is a huge part of that. You know, so I don’t think you get the benefits of having a player like Jaylen on the back end without a TJ Watt. So, I think whenever you can have a guy like that on the field to continue to bring pressure and add to that front seven, I think having Jaylen, you know, would just make things so much better. Yeah. Great. One thing to watch with the Steelers offense, the use of two tight ends. Since 2020, Aaron Rogers has hovered around the top 10 in total dropbacks and completions, but has the fifth most passdowns in two tight end formations. Steelers utilized it last season in their highest rate since 2014. And then now they add another tight end in Janu Smith. Allan, what do you make of Smith’s addition specifically, how it fits in the scheme, what they may want to do with Rogers? You know, I think it’s a phenomenal addition. um not only with just Aaron Rogers, but also Arthur Smith, you know. So, I think with those two parties um really liking to have two uh tight end sets, I think being able to bring him in with Pat Frier move, I think makes their offense very dynamic. Obviously, they added uh DK Metaf as well this off seasonason. So, again, being able to add somebody who’s coming off a Pro Bowl season who has the familiarity with the Arthur Smith, you know, I think it it it starts to be able to add some cohesiveness to their offense as they’re getting in new additions. You know, it also is some familiar faces. How about three tight ends, Alan? Because I really think this team’s going to live in 13 personnel, right? Because because all the tight ends fit together. You mentioned Frith. To me, he is more of uh he can stretch the seam. You can use him vertically. Darnell Washington’s basically a six offensive lineman, I realize, but he’s the blocker. And then Johnny Smith, to Allen’s point, he’s working underneath. He’s getting you yards after the catch. You can elevate the screen game with him. Aaron Rogers has another outlet if the ball’s coming out quickly. I like how these three three tight ends fit together and he’s absolutely right. Arthur Smith absolutely loves this grouping. I wouldn’t be surprised if we see a ton of it in Pittsburgh. Yeah, we’ve talked a lot about the Steelers side of this so far, but Kimberly, I’m curious, did the Dolphins get better with this trade last week because there’s been some people who have wondered about the Dolphin side of things. Uh Laura, yeah, I’m one of them. Uh you know, I I think I’m this is a little bit of a headscratcher. Um because as we talked about with the Jaylen Ramsey of it all talked about the physicality talk about and that’s the type of player that they’re moving on from. When I look at the Dolphins, one of the things that we’ve said year after year is this team just doesn’t seem to be physically tough. Not my words, opponents have said that the same. Um and and so when I look at the Dolphins, I just wonder what the direction is for this team. even the Darren Waller move. Um, you know, that’s a guy who’s who hasn’t played in a minute. So, I’m not sure what the Dolphins are. Perhaps Field Mina, perhaps you guys have a better better read on them because I I to me this is a total wait and see because I’m not sure what what Miami is thinking. Well, Darren Waller did nearly make my Spotify wrapped list this past year because I’m a big fan of his music, but I too was confused by the addition. Um, you know, let me here’s the thing about this move from the Miami side. I think in a vacuum, if a team trades uh two players that weren’t likely long for the franchise for a player in Ma Fitzpatrick who has been a three-time allpro who has not been at the peak of his powers the past couple of years, but is younger and is under decent contract control for the next years. I’m okay with it. The issue I have with Miami kind of gets to what Kimberly was referring to, which is that they’ve made a handful of big bets over the past few years, whether it’s trades or extensions or trades that led to extensions. Allah Bradley Child, a deal that has not worked out. The Tyreek Hill extension, which you know, one season into it looked like perhaps, you know, a mistake on Miami’s part. We’ll see if he bounces back this season. Jaylen Ramsay as well, extended in September, now traded in July. Mina, it just feels like this is a team whose football business is often mediocre and that’s why one of the reasons why I think this team might be kind of heading towards the middle in the AFC as opposed to competing in the playoffs. Yeah, finances clearly played a role in this. And if you want to say one nice thing about Miami, getting the contract off the books, not having to eat it was honestly I was a little bit surprised they managed to do that. So that that’s a bit of a win. But you know, Kimberly, you’re right. The secondary has major problems. I have to think they’re going to add another corner because as it stands, it’s probably the weakest quarterback group in the NFL right now. There’s still a few free agents out there. Sante Samuel Jr., Stefan Gilmore, names that come to mind as potential guys that could sign. Russell Douglas from Buffalo, uh, and then Mike Hilton in the slot. But, you know, this would be just like a one-year fire type deal. And you’re really counting on that front seven, that pass rush. Yeah, I think all of this, you know, leads to the points that we’re making that the Dolphins have missed the playoffs in six of the last eight season. and they haven’t won a playoff game since 2000. Allan, when you look at a team like this that at times we’ve been like, “Oh, the Dolphins are exciting and their offense has been super exciting.” What do you think about them now going into next season? You know, it’s tough, you know, for them, they’ve they’ve lost a lot on defense, but as well as if you do want to start with a building block, you know, bringing somebody in like Minka who’s a very good locker room and culture guy, I think may start to shape things and move it in a direction a little bit. You know, you know, he’s going to come to work each and every day. you know, he’s a hard-nosed player. He’s a physical player. So, I think he can maybe help establish a little bit of identity on the defensive side of the ball and kind of rally the guys around him. Lions, they lost in the playoffs to the Commanders. Of course, Detroit was trailing by 10 in the fourth quarter and they tried the trick play with wide out Jameson Williams throwing deep to Jir Gibbs. It was intercepted. Commanders end up punching it in for a touchdown to go up 45-28, punching their ticket to the NFC Championship game. You see Dan Campbell’s face there. Definitely disappointed. It was a team that we loved all season long. Injuries had a lot to do with the way the the season finished. But Mina, quick look back to that playoff loss. How can Detroit avoid that situation this season? Well, uh, Jaden Daniels is not a quarterback you want to blitz as much as they did. They blitzed him 55% of the time and he diced it up 70 completing 75% of passes for 191 yards and a touchdown. That’s who he was all year by the way. He was unbelievable against the Blitz and the Lions were backed into a corner because they ran out of players. So, they felt that they had to send pressure constantly to have a fighting chance. To me, this is going to be the difference or potentially the difference next year, especially if they play this team and this quarterback again. Can you get pressure with four? Can your secondary healthier buy your front some time? Even if your pass rush isn’t better, maybe situationally you can put them in a better situation to get after the quarterback. They cannot blitz to the degree that they did last year. They know that it was out of necessity. Yeah, it’s a good point. I mean, the health, but then also changes they can make to what they would do schematically. Now, according to ESPN analytics, the Lions have the second best shot to make the Super Bowl in the NFC behind the defending champion Eagles. The Lions have ended a lot of droughts in recent years, but they’ve never made a Super Bowl. Their last NFL championship game was in 1957. Kimberly, as we spin ahead to this season, what do you think is going to be the biggest challenge for Detroit? because there have been some changes especially coaching staff-wise. So I I think that’s the biggest question mark for me. The offensive coordinator and defensive coordinator. Ben Johnson, you mentioned Mad Scientist with Shawn McVey. Like Ben Johnson is a guy who enjoy just being in in his room scheming up stuff like players like Jir Gibbs would talk about each week, what does he have for us? What are we going to whip out? So losing that, but also Aaron Glenn who had been there from the beginning. The leadership now is obviously the Jets head coach. that foundation, but also Laura, I was there, Alan, too. I was there when they lost um to the 49ers. Uh and then I was there last year losing to the commanders. So like backtoback, you know, in recent memory, we see a team that’s right there on the precipice of oh, all these expectations and then they’ll fall short. I think that they also have to overcome as well. Uh first of all, Kimberly, I just got a text message from Dan Campbell. You’ve been banned from all future Lions playoffs games. So, it’s no longer your fault. Not a Kim curse. I’m kidding. Of course. However, the Kim Curse alive and well. You know, to me, it really is all about the offensive coordinator here in John Morton. And that’s not to take anything away from Aaron Glenn, who was, you know, along with Ben Johnson, the most coveted head coaching candidate this past off season. More so, the fact that a defensive coordinator over the course of the game might throw out, you know, 15 different calls, maybe 20 different defensive play calls in the course of a game. Whereas if you play 75 offensive snaps, you might be running 60 or 65 different offensive plays with some small wrinkles here or there. And it’s the marriage between John Morton, who has only been a coordinator for one time and one season in the NFL previously with the Jets back in 2017 under Todd BS that he has with Jared Goff. It’s a quarterback driven league, but not too far behind that is the relationship the quarterback has with his play caller Jared Goff and Ben Johnson amongst the best relationships over the past few years. And it is tough losing two coordinators, but at the same time, I think for Detroit, the foundation has been built. You know, they have the veterans in the locker room. You have your Amanra St. Browns, you have your Jared Goffs, and now being able to to match up some of that youth with the veterans and with the foundation that you have built. You have the Jir Gibbs, the Jameson Williamson. So, I think this year they will be able to lean on those younger guys a little bit more as they’re now going into year three, going into year four, and have that experience. And you know, these aren’t just your average young players. These are these are Pro Bowl and more caliber type players. So, being able to see Jir Gibbs maybe get some more carries this year, seeing seeing Jameson Williams get some more touches because again, I mean, those guys to me are like two Ferraris that have been lightly driven. Yep. I love it. Now, the other thing too that I sort of lean back on when thinking about positively for the Lions is that Dan Campbell’s there and you mentioned that foundation. Having played for him, what is he like and and what are some things that you take away from him? As much as as as he preaches physicality and grit, he’s such a detail oriented coach. You know, that’s splitwise on offense. That’s defense. Okay, what are we running? Are we in are we in manto man? What’s our leverage? Staying true to those leverages. And any meeting that you get in with Coach Campbell, offense or defensive, you know, he’s going to preach as far as what he believes are going to be the things that are going to help you win the game. And he’s going to be so detailed in that approach throughout the course of the week. And every time you line up in practice, he’s going to make sure that everybody is on their P’s and Q’s when it comes to the detail of the operation. [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music]

Allen Robinson II, Mina Kimes, Kimberley A. Martin and Field Yates join Laura Rutledge on NFL Live to react to the Pittsburgh Steelers’ offseason additions and how the Detroit Lions can improve on last season’s result.

0:00 Steelers trade for Jalen Ramsey
4:57 Jonnu Smith to the Steelers & Minkah Fitzpatrick to the Dolphins
9:53 How can the Lions improve from last season?

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