Exit Meeting: CB Jalen Ramsey<\/p>\n
Experience: 10 Years<\/p>\n
Jalen Ramsey has one season under his belt with the Pittsburgh Steelers, managing to earn another Pro Bowl, as well. He played outside cornerback, in the slot, and ended up moving to safety for most of the season. Still under contract, the Steelers have to decide at what price point it\u2019s worth continuing business with him in 2026.<\/p>\n
Most figure former Steelers HC Mike Tomlin spearheaded the desire to trade for Ramsey last summer. Tomlin has signed resigned, and nearly his entire coaching staff is gone along with him. While the front office remains, does Pittsburgh\u2019s new coaching staff think he\u2019s worth the money?<\/p>\n
That might depend on what they see him as at this point in his career. Set to turn 32 during the 2026 season, Jalen Rasmey is no longer in his prime. The Steelers found that out the hard way last season as Tee Higgins and Ja\u2019Marr Chase burned him in one-on-one coverage. But he looked promising in the nickel, and had his moments at safety.<\/p>\n
Ramsey has long talked about wanting to finish his career at safety\u2014and wanting top cornerback pay. Right now, the Steelers are on the books for $19.5 to retain him in 2026, including a $2 million roster bonus due in March.<\/p>\n
If they view Ramsey as a safety, is that price too much to pay? With the salary cap going up north of $300 million, it\u2019s probably easier to swallow. But a cap it still a cap, and one has to be smart with how one distributes resources.<\/p>\n
Jalen Ramsey can certainly still play, but how can the Steelers maximize him? Is he best left in the slot? Last year\u2019s coaching staff favored his versatility, able to move between positions with fluidity. Will Mike McCarthy\u2019s staff see it the same way, or will they want a more fixed role?<\/p>\n
These are the questions they\u2019ll have to figure out in the next few weeks. I\u2019m guessing the Steelers intend to keep Ramsey\u2014after too, too many decent defensive backs is not a problem that exists. But if the right team approaches them with the right offer, it might be hard to say no. The alternative is, perhaps, a safety combination of DeShon Elliott and Kyle Dugger. And does anybody think Ramsey should be a full-time outside cornerback at this stage of the game\u2014even himself?<\/p>\n
The Pittsburgh Steelers find themselves licking their wounds after yet\u00a0another early playoff exit<\/a>. This is a repeated pattern for the organization, but with major change coming. As the Steelers conduct their own exit meetings, we will\u00a0go down the roster<\/a>\u00a0conducting our own. Who should stay, and who should go, and how? Who should expect a bigger role next season, and who might deserve a new contract? The resignation of Mike Tomlin makes those questions much more difficult to answer, but much more important. We\u2019ll explore those questions and more in these articles, part of an annual series.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Exit Meeting: CB Jalen Ramsey Experience: 10 Years Jalen Ramsey has one season under his belt with the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":760247,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2055],"tags":[7,1815,6,520,57,2360,426],"class_list":{"0":"post-760246","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-pittsburgh-steelers","8":"tag-football","9":"tag-jalen-ramsey","10":"tag-nfl","11":"tag-pittsburgh","12":"tag-pittsburgh-steelers","13":"tag-pittsburghsteelers","14":"tag-steelers"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116091551137397473","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/760246","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=760246"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/760246\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/760247"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=760246"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=760246"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=760246"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}