Jalen Ramsey will open training camp on the physically unable to perform list.
The Athletic’s Mike DeFabo reported Tuesday from Latrobe that general manager Omar Khan said Ramsey injured his knee during minicamp and will likely be out “a couple weeks.”
ESPN’s Brooke Pryor reported that Khan said they were “being smart” about working him in.
“It isn’t something where we don’t anticipate him being ready for the season,” Khan said.
“It isn’t something where we don’t anticipate him being ready for the season.”
That is not a long absence. It is also landing on the one player the Steelers can least afford to have watching.
What Jalen Ramsey’s Knee Injury Means For The Steelers Secondary
Ramsey is listed as a cornerback. That has never really been the point of him.
He lined up at outside corner, in the slot and at free safety last season as injuries tore through Pittsburgh’s secondary, and the new coaching staff took notice. Defensive coordinator Patrick Graham and secondary coach Joe Whitt Jr. spent OTAs comparing him to Charles Woodson, which is about the highest compliment available to a defensive back who can play three positions.
Khan has been just as direct about it.
“I can’t say enough good things about him,” Khan said back in February, noting the Steelers can use Ramsey at corner, nickel or safety.
That flexibility does enormous structural work on this roster. Bleacher Report’s Kristopher Knox named safety the biggest weakness on the team this week, pointing at a group that runs DeShon Elliott, Jaquan Brisker, Darnell Savage and seventh-round rookie Robert Spears-Jennings. The reason that group looks survivable at all is that Graham can slide Ramsey back there when it thins out.
Now the emergency exit is the one on the shelf.
Elliott is his own question mark after a knee injury wrecked his 2025 season, which means the two players Pittsburgh is counting on most in the back end have both spent recent months in a training room.
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Jalen Ramsey’s Role In Patrick Graham’s New Steelers Defense
The timing stings for a second reason that has nothing to do with the depth chart.
Ramsey is learning an entirely new system. Graham arrived this offseason as part of Mike McCarthy’s staff, and the plan on paper moves Ramsey inside to the slot more often than he played there last year. That is a different set of responsibilities, different communication, different footwork against different route concepts.
The value of a versatile chess piece depends on him getting reps at every square. Missing install work in late July costs Ramsey more than it would cost almost anyone else in the building.
The stakes on that defense are considerable. Pittsburgh will field the NFL’s highest-paid defensive unit for a fifth consecutive season at roughly $195 million, a group stacked with Pro Bowlers that has not come close to playing like it. Graham’s entire job is fixing that, and he needs his most adaptable player on the grass to do it.
The good news is that this should be brief. Players can come off the PUP list at any point during camp or the preseason, right up until roster cuts on August 30, and a couple of weeks in late July puts Ramsey back well ahead of the opener against Atlanta on September 13.
Whether this secondary can stay upright for seventeen games is the season’s real question. Day one did not help.
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