The Steelers have a serious safety problem

The Steelers have been making adjustments on the fly in the secondary. Both safeties that opened the season as starters are gone. Ramsey had to make the transition from corner to safety during the season. Dugger joined the team during the season. He played well at first, but he has been a significant downgrade from Elliott.

Yes, the Steelers have a problem at safety. They need to address the position during the offseason. They should have done a better job replacing Fitzpatrick and they should have had a better backup option behind Elliott, who has battled injuries at time sin the past. Trusting Thornhill to start was a huge mistake. There isn't much the Steelers can do other than put as much responsibility on the rest of the defense as possible.

 

The safeties had problems in the Browns game too.

 

Playoffs are different. Teams are a lot more aggressive, also with different play designs. Look at the number of 4th downs attempted.

 

How high?

 

4, or 5 bong hits.

 

I only use the playoffs example because it's the latest games played.

 

You clearly know nothing about the draft and position value.

A safety is like 3 rips max. C’mon. Gotta stay up on the Ganja Tokes Draft Value Chart.

 

Deshon Elliot is signed through the 2027 season.
Jalen Ramsey is signed through the 2028 season.

This covers the starting positions, not sure how much I want to invest in a backup player when the 2 starters are healthy.

 

I remember Steelers internet fans complaining and yelling about how many tackles Troy missed each week.

I was like, dude, no one else in the league would have even been in the same zip code to attempt that tackle....the internet is ridiculous.

 

One cant stay healthy and the other, Ramsey, is old

i hope they address it in the draft

 

Elliot has only played a full season once in his career. I like Elliot but the Steelers need more from the position. And Ramsey hasn't exactly had a stellar season as a safety. Been burned on several explosive plays when guessing wrong. SIS had him for 6 TDs allowed.

 

I think Ramsey played really well this year and the dude can tackle in run support. If you put him and Elliot back there I am pretty confident in that duo. I think our defensive struggles came from in game play calling from Austin rather than a lack of talent. It almost felt like we were guessing against teams.

 

That was Ramsey's first year at Safety, so give him a little break.

When Healthy, Elliot was one of the best safety's in the NFL last year.


https://www.si.com/nfl/steelers/onsi/news/pittsburgh-steelers-deshon-elliott-shares-injury-update
Elliott’s Loss Continues to Haunt Steelers
Elliott was one of the best safeties in the NFL last year in his debut with the Steelers. It earned him a contract extension and salary raise for his efforts, and it was justly earned from his performance.

Without him, they lost one of their best overall tacklers. He led the NFL with the lowest missed tackle rate in 2024, and without his ability to contribute in the run game and matchup one-on-one in open space, the team’s secondary has taken a noticeable step back.

 

Whoever bumped this is smart. Because with graham scheme we really need a top notch safety.

 

For graham system to work you need a top notch safety. Byard is who I'm interested in for free agency.

 

LoL
The new analytics of it all is beyond my brain capacity.

 

I remember on the old board that some people called him a injury plague midget, and some even called him Troy Bustamalu. Stupid

 

We still must have quality/cheap, and up, and coming backups.

 

I believe they should draft at the position, but I believe Ramsey problem is not long at the position, and two....He didn't play only that position this year. They had him playing all over at different points.

 

Elliott has been injured in both seasons with the Steelers; Ramsey is no lock to return with a salary over 17 million and he has lost a step.

 

Ramsey has not lost a step for safety.
1. This was his 1st year at the position, and he didn't even get a whole year there.
2. A bunch(not all) of the times people complained, he wasn't actually playing safety on those particular plays.
3. We shall see, and ...........
4. We still should draft at those positions . Just because you have someone there doesn't mean you can't get backups, younger, and possibly better players for now, and the future.

 

If I understand your overall point here, I think ARod hammered that very same point after just about every game last season. We had a thread on here about him saying guys are in the film room but still don't know the things being taught in those film sessions.


I don't think that at the NFL level they do a whole lot of 11 on 11 full speed, full padded practices. Mostly it's film and playbook.

 

If Elliot cant stay healthy what good is he to the team? They should draft a safety and maybe pick up another one in FA.