The Pittsburgh Steelers released an updated depth chart ahead of their Week 10 matchup against the Los Angeles Chargers. The depth chart has barely shifted all season, but last week’s trade and some recent developments in the secondary have finally moved the needle on the official list.
The offense remains the same, but the defense has a lot of movement. Most notably, the secondary has changed. Jalen Ramsey is now listed as the starting free safety. He has previously been listed as the starting nickel corner, but they updated it to reflect his new role.
Mike Tomlin told the media during his weekly press conference that Ramsey would be staying exclusively at the safety position for now because of the injury situation in Pittsburgh’s secondary. As a result of Ramsey moving up, Juan Thornhill has moved down a spot and is now the backup free safety on the depth chart.
Next to Ramsey, the Steelers listed Kyle Dugger as the starting strong safety. He joined the team last week and played almost every snap in Sunday’s game. He should only improve as he gets more comfortable in Pittsburgh’s defense. Chuck Clark remains the primary backup.
Finally, with Ramsey no longer listed as a nickel corner, Brandin Echols is now a starter there. He is also one of the primary backups at wide corner. The depth in the secondary remains thin, but their starting group is solid all around at the moment.
We will see what happens with DeShon Elliott and Cory Trice Jr., the latter of whom appeared to sustain a knee injury during his 21-day practice window. The Steelers did not make any additional moves at the trade deadline, so Dugger ended up being their only move.
The final change was just procedural, as they removed Daniel Ekuale from the depth chart as he went on IR. That shifted Logan Lee up a spot, but they have not backfilled depth on the active roster currently. They have 52 players on the roster with room to add one more.