Steelers' Jalen Ramsey Could Create A Dangerous Problem Drake Maye Already Failed To Solve

The Pittsburgh Steelers spent the offseason talking about versatility as though it were a defensive luxury. Week 2 could turn it into a weapon. New England already put one specific protection problem on film, and Pittsburgh has a veteran defensive back whose value has increasingly come from doing more than standing in one place. If Patrick Graham decides to test whether the Patriots actually fixed what went wrong, the answer may arrive from somewhere their quarterback cannot afford to ignore.

Jim Wexell believes Jalen Ramsey could become one of Pittsburgh's most important pieces against the New England Patriots because of how Seattle attacked Drake Maye in the opener. Rather than leaving Ramsey in a predictable coverage role, Wexell sees a matchup Graham can exploit by sending him from the slot.

During a recent episode of the Steel City Insider Podcast, Wexell pointed directly to the pressure New England struggled to handle. His idea gives Pittsburgh another way to make Maye solve the defense before the ball is even snapped.

“Drake Maye was victimized out of the corner-slot blitz pretty badly in the opener. And Jalen Ramsey is a perfect slot blitzer… Jalen could play a big role this week,” Wexell said.

That is not just a theoretical pressure idea. New England's own film review noted that Seattle beat the Patriots twice with the same “glitch” pressure in Week 1, bringing a defensive back unblocked off the right edge. The problem was not simply that a lineman lost a one-on-one matchup. Seattle manipulated the protection and created a free runner, which is a much more annoying problem for an offense to solve.

Ramsey fits that assignment unusually well because Pittsburgh does not need to disguise what he is as much as what he might do. He can align over the slot, walk toward the box, rotate deep, match a tight end or come downhill after the snap. The same pre-snap picture can become coverage or pressure, forcing Maye to process Ramsey before he even starts worrying about the Steelers' usual pass rush.

That possibility connects directly to the movable role Pittsburgh envisioned for Ramsey under Graham. The Steelers have spent months discussing how his value now comes from versatility rather than asking him to live exclusively as an outside corner. His ability to blitz from the slot was already part of that conversation before the season, and New England may have supplied the first matchup begging Pittsburgh to emphasize it.

There is another reason the wrinkle makes sense. Pittsburgh does not need Ramsey to manufacture pressure by himself. TJ Watt and Alex Highsmith already demand attention on the edges, which means protection calls are crowded before Ramsey moves an inch. If the Patriots slide help toward one side or keep a back involved to account for the edge rush, a late slot pressure can force Maye to identify exactly where the extra body is coming from.

The opening for Pittsburgh is that Seattle already demonstrated how a defensive back can become the unaccounted-for rusher. The warning is assuming New England spent the week watching the same mistake without preparing an answer. Maye is also too mobile to treat every free runner like an automatic negative play, especially once protection breaks down and the structure of the play changes.

That is where Ramsey's tackling and timing become important. A slot blitz is only useful if the blitzer arrives under control. Maye can escape outside, reset and punish a defense that vacates coverage recklessly. Sending Ramsey cannot become an excuse to open a running lane for a quarterback capable of turning broken protection into a scramble.

Graham also has another option: threaten the blitz without actually sending it. New England's own scouting of Pittsburgh noted how frequently Graham has shown pressure before dropping defenders into zone, changing the quarterback's picture after the snap. Pittsburgh played zone on every Atlanta dropback in Week 1, and Graham disguised coverage more than a quarter of the time when he faced Maye with Las Vegas last season.

That is the kind of stress Pittsburgh wants. The Steelers do not need to blitz every time Ramsey lines up inside. They need Maye to wonder whether they will, then make him process one more moving part while Watt and Highsmith are already occupying the protection's attention.

Steelers Can Make Ramsey The Extra Problem New England Has To Solve

The appeal of using Ramsey this way is that it adds pressure without making Pittsburgh abandon what worked in Week 1. Graham played zone throughout Atlanta's dropbacks, changed pictures and let his front create disruption without constantly exposing the secondary. Ramsey can fit inside that structure rather than turning the defense into an all-out blitz operation.

Wexell's idea becomes even more interesting because New England's biggest offensive issue against Seattle was not simply losing individual blocks. The Patriots struggled when the defense changed the math. A free slot rusher forces the quarterback and protection to reach the same answer immediately, and one missed identification can wreck a third down before the route concept ever develops.

Ramsey gives Pittsburgh a believable way to ask that question because he already lives in multiple defensive worlds. If he lines up near the slot, Maye cannot automatically decide whether he is looking at a coverage defender, a safety rotating down or the next blitzer arriving untouched. That uncertainty may be worth as much as the pressure itself, particularly against a quarterback trying to make sure Week 1's mistakes do not follow him into Sunday.

Pittsburgh already has enough obvious pass-rush threats to occupy New England's protection meetings. Wexell believes Ramsey can become the one that changes the test after the Patriots think they know the answers.

Seattle put the weakness on tape. Sunday gives Graham a chance to find out whether Maye actually fixed it.

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