Texans coach David Culley likens Jalen Ramsey to Deion Sanders
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theramswire.usatoday.com]
Skyler Carlin
David Culley, the head coach of the Houston Texans, knows that his team is going to have their hands full with Jalen Ramsey on the opposite side of the field when his team faces the Los Angeles Rams in Week 8.
When speaking about the All-Pro cornerback, Culley likened Ramsey’s ability to shut down areas of the field to the way Hall of Famer Deion Sanders did.
Though Culley isn’t saying Ramsey is Sanders, the comparison is warranted because of the way Ramsey has played in the early part of his career, especially now in Los Angeles.
Here’s what Culley told Rams reporters, via The Athletic’s Jourdan Rodrigue.
“The thing about it, he’s one of the guys in this league who people consider ‘shutdown players,'” Culley said of Ramsey. “Obviously, when you do that – I go way back in my career, when I was in Philadelphia and we were playing the Cowboys. They had a guy named Deion Sanders. And it was almost like it was unfair, sometimes, because it was like you were playing 11 on 10, because the guy he covered got taken completely out of the game. So it kind of made it unfair. I’m not saying Jalen is Deion Sanders, but he is a very, very good player. I can remember when he was in Jacksonville, I had some dealings with him there also. He’s just one of those guys that, when you’ve got him on defense it makes you better. You can play things a little differently when you’ve got a guy like that on your team, and they’re very fortunate to have a guy like that.”
Ever since last season under Brandon Staley, Ramsey has been operating in the ‘star’ role for the Rams, which means he’s used in a variety of ways. Raheem Morris has elected to deploy Ramsey in a similar manner this season with fruitful results.
While Ramsey is flying sideline-to-sideline making plays, he has seen less time shadowing an opposing team’s best wide receiver. That doesn’t mean Ramsey isn’t finding ways to limit what opposing teams can do whenever he’s on the field.
In Sunday’s win over the Lions, Ramsey allowed only two receptions for 10 yards and he captured a game-sealing interception in the fourth quarter. He also made his presence felt earlier in the game when he delivered a massive hit on Jared Goff in the pocket to force an incomplete pass.
It’s always tough trying to compare current players to all-time greats, especially someone that was as dominant as Sanders. But at 27 years old, if Ramsey can maintain his current trajectory, there’s a good chance he is remembered as one of the best cornerbacks to ever play in the NFL.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/27/2021 07:29AM by Rams43.
