Jalen Ramsey Issues - Did the Steelers Know?
Last week the Pittsburgh Steelers traded Minkah Fitzpatrick to the Miami Dolphins in exchange for Jalen Ramsey and Jonnu Smith. At first glance, it seems like a good trade for the Steelers. First, they get two players for one, and Jonnu Smith, with his 88 receptions and 8 touchdowns last year seems like a much needed addition to a suspect receiving corps minus the excellent addition of D.K. Metcalf this off-season. Minkah Fitzpatrick has had only one interception in the past 2 years and so it's possible his talent may be fading. However, Jalen Ramsey is the addition that many are bringing into question. Once a top cornerback in the league and by most accounts a borderline hall of fame player, Jalen Ramsey has managed to stay under the radar as far as his lack of buy-in to his team's program.
On the field, all still looks pretty good. He led the Dolphins in passes defended last year with 11. He had 2 interceptions, 1 sack and 6 tackles for a loss. At the same time, information is coming out from Florida that Jalen Ramsey wasn't the best teammate and wasn't very coachable. David Hyde of the Miami Sun Sentinel reported the following Jalen Ramsey issues. He was typically late to practice, showing up when the rest of the team was already stretching. Two years ago, when Vic Fangio ran the Dolphins defense, he was mentioned to constantly undermine the brilliant defensive coordinator, who is now fresh off a dominating Super Bowl win in which his defense stymied Pat Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs. This behavior was reported to continue last season with Mike McDaniel now at the helm. The question is this - Did the Steelers know this information prior to making the trade and if so, would they have made the trade?
My guess is yes, they would have made the trade with that knowledge. The reason why is that the Steelers constantly elevate themselves, thinking they are better than the rest of the league. They have consistently taken on problems such as George Pickens, Chase Claypool, Diontae Johnson and Le'Veon Bell. Some might say Mike Tomlin got a lot out of Antonio Brown before he went off the rails, but in most cases these situations don't usually end well for the Steelers. My take is if the Steelers knew, they probably would have made the trade anyway as they likely see Jonnu Smith the more important part of the trade. That would at least be a good reason to make the trade. If they didn't know this information on Jalen Ramsey, then it's gross negligence in the area of poor fact finding. Here's to hoping that Jalen Ramsey's attitude doesn't assist in derailing the Steelers season.
