Jalen Ramsey to get 2nd consecutive start at free safety when Steelers face Chargers

Jalen Ramsey did so well in his debut as a starting free safety for the Pittsburgh Steelers that he’ll continue to work exclusively at that position in the secondary.

And Kyle Dugger provided such a steady presence at the other safety spot mere days after being acquired from the New England Patriots that he could be in line to make a second consecutive start for his new team.

Coach Mike Tomlin indicated Tuesday that he’s inclined to go with the status quo in the Steelers’ defensive backfield when they face the Los Angeles Chargers on Sunday night at SoFi Stadium.

The Steelers (5-3) are coming off a victory against the first-place Indianapolis Colts in which the defense forced five of the team’s six takeaways. Ramsey and Dugger weren’t involved in any of those turnovers, but they helped alleviate the absence of three safeties because of injury and illness.

“Jalen will work exclusively at safety,” Tomlin said at his weekly press conference. “We value his positional flexibility. It’s an asset to us.”

A boundary cornerback for most of his decorated 10-year career, Ramsey was acquired from Miami in late June with the intent of playing multiple positions in the secondary. That included slot corner, where he often lined up while Joey Porter Jr. and Darius Slay manned the outside.

But with DeShon Elliott going on injured reserve with a knee injury, Chuck Clark being sidelined with an illness and Jabrill Peppers scratched because of a quadriceps injury, Ramsey was moved to free safety during the practice week.

“Under the circumstances, we deem that appropriate as we did last week in terms of nailing him down there,” Tomlin said. “It provides opportunity for guys like Brandin Echols to step up, which he did, and play more snaps as a nickel.”

Echols replaced Ramsey at the slot in subpackages, logging 45 of his 56 snaps there. James Pierre replaced Slay for 16 snaps against Indianapolis as an outside corner.

“We have more depth at corner than we do at safety,” Tomlin said, “so we are pivoting and doing what is required to keep the train rolling.”

Acquired from New England in the wake of Elliott’s potential season-ending injury, Dugger had just two days of practice with the Steelers. He grasped the scheme so well that he played 77 of 78 defensive snaps.

“I’m excited about having a complete week of work with him at the safety position,” Tomlin said.

Tomlin said he wasn’t sure Dugger, a sixth-year veteran, could handle the workload on short notice.

“I was hopeful he could play a lot,” Tomlin said. “We had direct eyes on him in case it wasn’t unfolding in the ways that we would like. We are just getting to know him. We respect that he’s a veteran player, and he displayed signs that he was capable in our practice sessions leading up to Sunday. But (doing it in) stadiums is somewhat different.

“We had plans, but we were light on our feet in case that wasn’t moving and moving in the right direction.”

Dugger’s presence resulted in a defensive benching for Juan Thornhill, who started and played every snap in Week 2 against Seattle but had his playing time cut in half in recent weeks. Thornhill played just three snaps on special teams against the Colts.

The Steelers used two high safeties at the expense of a traditional box safety to help keep the Colts to 14 points below their NFL-leading 33.8 per-game average. Tomlin said it might not be the same scenario this week against the Chargers, who are fifth in total yards per game.

“We make decisions based on the variable of the week,” he said. “Things we did last week were relative to the Colts and our circumstance.”

One thing is for certain: Ramsey will man the free safety spot when the prime-time game kicks off Sunday night at SoFi Stadium. Not that Tomlin was surprised by Ramsey’s ability to make such a seamless transition to the position. A former top-five pick, Ramsey is a seven-time Pro Bowl pick and three-time first-team All-Pro player at cornerback.

“Some of the things you talk about when you first talk about the safety position are intangible qualities, or things you don’t necessarily measure,” Tomlin said. “He’s got good instincts, a really good passion for the game, he studies the game. Those are things that enabled him to play back there. That is such a major component of that position.

“His talents are obvious — his tackling, range, physicality. More subtle things, the intangible things, are more exciting for us. As he gains more experience back there, it’s reasonable to expect those talents to show up more frequently.”