The monumental trade took place earlier this week sent S Minkah Fitzpatrick to the Miami Dolphins to lock the NFL world and the Pittsburgh Steelers secondary. With the addition to the cornerback room, Ramsey, Joey Porter Jr. and Darius kill everyone and kill any starters that can lock down their surroundings.
However, Fitzpatrick’s trade is a name that will likely make a big hole for safety and Juan Thornhill step into his place shortly after the trade. Steelers reporter Mark Caboley said Ramsey will also see playing time outside while contributing to safety and nickel, but he is unlikely to become a safe Fitzpatrick Pittsburgh 1-1 replacement.
As Alex Kozola mentioned in his work shortly after the hit trade, S van Thornhill is a clear winner, and CB Beanie Bishop Jr. is a clear loser of this contract. Thornhill goes into the recognized starting role as described above. At a minimum, he will see an increase in sub-package snaps. Kaboly also said Thornhill has strong OTAs and mini-camps, which looks significantly better than the former Steelers Safety Damontae Kazee, who served as Pittsburgh’s third safe in the past few seasons. Pittsburgh still managed to get out and get Justin Simmons to fill Fitzpatrick’s role as a free safety start, but Thornhill is well established towards training camp.
The bishop appears to have lost the place where he started in nickel. This is because Ramsey and Slay have picked up four passes but are more likely to contribute than the former 2024 UDFA, who had a strong rookie season that aims to be relegated to more DIME defensive roles in 2025.
Cory Trice Jr. finds himself in a difficult battle to see more play time as his third year corner surrounds the corner of Pittsburgh’s fourth corner on the depth chart. If one of Ramsey or Slay was playing safety, he could have had a chance to snap, but Bishop fits more naturally in the sub-package, and Ramsey is a similar body type that matches the larger slots and tight ends, so Pittsburgh’s plans could be relegated to a deeper role depending on what is safe.
The rest of the cornerback depth chart has limited opportunities to provide meaningful snaps to your defense. James Pierre may create a team as a core special team, but free agents may be pushed entirely from the roster, unless they can prove he is a valuable special team arner by signing Brandon Ecole and beat Pierre as the sixth cornerback on the Pittsburgh depth chart. For people like rookie Donte Kent, his odds would make his roster look even slimmer, and his only shot came from winning the starting punt returner job.
In safety, things are significantly open to Pittsburgh’s depth choices. Miles Kylebrew remains close to locking the roster as a special team ace, with Udofa Sebastian Castro’s odds increasing and a very well-known prospect who fell out of the draft due to concerns about size and speed. Still, Castro is a brain and physical defender, has experience playing in the slots, close to the line of scrimmage and is deeply covered. He has to compete with things like Quindell Johnson, but the likelihood of creating a Castro roster is better than they were a week ago.
Pittsburgh could make a move or two to shake this second round further, and after swapping players like Fitzpatrick, no one would be surprised at this point. Still, with things sitting here today, it appears that safety has more opportunities to increase roles, but Pittsburgh can feel like he now has formidable trioes, as he now sees in the league.
