Two things came from the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers joint practice this week. One, Mike Evans is still that dude. And two, Jalen Ramsey is not. The Steelers knew the gamble they took in trading for Ramsey, but now they’re realizing it was not worth it. Ramsey getting torched by Evans during joint practice doesn’t necessarily mean a whole lot, but it does give Steelers fans something to hate about this upcoming season.
"Bucs WR Mike Evans couldn’t be covered during practice Thursday and won most of his battles with Steelers CB Jalen Ramsey. Todd Bowles has seen enough and won’t play him Sat," Rick Stroud of the Tampa Bay Times tweeted.
In a way, maybe both the Dolphins and the Steelers regret their moves. Miami’s secondary is absolutely terrible and Amon-Ra St. Brown made a mockery of them during the Detroit Lions and Dolphins joint practice. And now with Ramsey’s struggles, both teams would probably second-guess the trade looking back now.
Miami Dolphins, Pittsburgh Steelers both seeing the risk of Jalen Ramsey trade
The Steelers were active in addressing their secondary, but the Ramsey move will forever haunt them if he continues to struggle like he did during practice this week ahead of the Steelers second preseason game. Again, he’s a veteran and knows what it takes to succeed. At the top of his game, Ramsey was one of the best lockdown corners.
Pittsburgh probably won’t get the All-pro Ramsey. And with the addition of Darius Slay too, it makes the Ramsey move even more risky. They didn’t need another cornerback, they needed maybe more offensive help or even a safety upgrade or possibly some linebacker help. The Ramsey move was always a risk and now the Steelers have to accept just how risky it was.
The Steelers have way too much on this season to have Ramsey not playing in peak shape. They went and added every possible vet they could to make sure this roster was ready to compete for a championship. They’re one of the oldest teams in the NFL this upcoming season.
The success of their defense might lie with how Ramsey plays. They added Ramsey because they felt he was the best option to help contain the Cincinnati Bengals potent passing offense. Or to be able to take out the top receiver on all the top teams in the AFC if need be.
His performance against Evans isn’t a good start. But it doesn’t have to dictate whether this season will go that way too. The Steelers are hoping this is a one off. I wouldn’t start getting scared until his bad play seeps into the regular season. Then they can start hitting the panic alarm. Until then, it’s business as usual.