Pittsburgh Steelers defensive back Brandin Echols was asked about the trade that sent Minkah Fitzpatrick to Miami in exchange for Jalen Ramsey and Jonnu Smith.

“I just didn’t understand the trade. It was confusing. I was trying to understand it,” Echols said. “But it’s really not my place to understand. It’s just for me to adjust.”

Let me be clear, “It’s really not my place to understand” might be my favorite quote of all time. Not just in pro sports, but in all walks of life.

I want that on a T-shirt. I want that on a bumper sticker. I want that on one of those “365 thoughts for a day” calendars.

I can’t tell you how many former jobs I used to have where I would’ve walked out of meetings and wanted to tattoo the words, “It’s really not my place to understand” backward across my forehead so I could look in a mirror and it could’ve been some sort of a self-affirming reminder.

Echols, though, seems to have a better grasp now.

“I really didn’t understand what was going on. But as camp went on, now I see,” Echols said.

To be fair to anyone else in the Steelers’ defensive backfield — or the entire coaching staff for that matter — it’s understandable if others had the same level of confusion that Echols did.

After moving a Pro Bowl safety in exchange for a Pro Bowl corner, and drafting (Donte Kent) or signing (Echols, Darius Slay) three other corners, it’s understandable to wonder how all those parts were going to coalesce.

To say nothing of newly acquired Juan Thornhill to replace the departed Damontae Kazee at safety.

But the Steelers’ coaches are noticing it coming together in training camp.

“It’s a great start so far,” defensive backs coach Gerald Alexander said. “We still have a lot of work to do in order to be the group that we feel like we can become. There is a long-term vision of how I think this group can be. And that’s why we come to training camp and work. Because you can’t visually see what I can see right now just yet.”

• Steelers camp report: Rookie QB Will Howard expected to miss time after injuring throwing hand • Steelers inside the ropes: Defense again holds twice in 2-minute drills • T.J. Watt not pushing back against extra time off he's been given at Steelers training camp

The trade happened June 30. There wasn’t an opportunity to get the whole secondary on the field together until July 24 at Saint Vincent College. There wasn’t even a lot of time for the coaching staff to put together a grand vision to determine how all those moving parts were going to be used.

“In terms of putting the plan together, the big thing I had to do was just keep in mind that we want our best players on the field,” defensive coordinator Teryl Austin said. “Right now, three of our best players in the secondary are corners. So how do we make that happen? That’s really what I did once I heard about the trade. Coming into this camp, that’s why you see (Ramsey) out on the field on basically every snap. He’s with the first group. He’s in there somewhere — whether it’s nickel, whether it’s safety, whether it’s corner. So we’ll continue to move in that vein.”

From Day 1 of camp, Mike Tomlin tried to boil down the specifics as simply as possible.

“Make no mistake, those top-3 corners (Ramsey, Slay and Joey Porter Jr.), they’re going to be on the field. I don’t care what offenses come out in,” Tomlin declared.

In nickel situations, that’s easily digestible, especially if you are one who believes Thornhill is a capable enough replacement for Kazee and can even sub in for Fitzpatrick’s role at times. But in the base and the dime — and in terms of who is in coverage in the middle of the field — it’s going to get more complicated than that.

If Tomlin does want those three corners on the field at all times, that means someone (probably Ramsey) is going to play more of a safety role in base. Also, in the nickel, Echols or Beanie Bishop may have a more limited role until the team goes to dime, or Ramsey is going to be playing a lot of safety.

“They’re coverage people. Describe them however you wish to describe them. They’re capable of covering eligibles and minimizing the time and success of offensive pass games,” Tomlin continued.

For his part, Ramsey seems to be OK with moving around a lot.

“I’m going to play football, and we are going to figure that out together,” Ramsey said.

To underscore Echols’ point, if the Steelers can figure it out, I really don’t need to understand how it happens.

Listen: Tim Benz recaps Tuesday’s training camp practice at Saint Vincent College and speaks with defensive coordinator Teryl Austin in the latest “Letters from Camp” podcast.

Copyright ©2025— Trib Total Media, LLC (TribLIVE.com)