Jalen Ramsey explains how Troy Hill helped him have a career year with Rams
Jalen Ramsey was one of the Rams’ most important players this season, putting together the best year of his career thus far. He didn’t allow more than 60 yards in a single game despite having to cover some of the best wideouts in football, giving up just 36 completions on 71 targets – a career-low 50.7% completion rate.
But he won’t take all of the credit for how dominant he was in 2020. During his end-of-season media session, Ramsey credited Troy Hill for allowing him to do all the things he did on the field.
Without Hill’s versatility and willingness to play both in the slot and outside, Ramsey wouldn’t have been able to move around the secondary as much as he did.
“Without him and his versatility and him being able to play inside and outside, I wouldn’t have been able to be who I was this year,” Ramsey said. “I wouldn’t have been able to have all of my skillsets used and be valued as I was, so I told him that nothing but respect for that because that’s something that I’ve never been able to do in my career yet thus far. But the coaches and everybody having the confidence in him that he could play inside or outside, that opened up opportunities for me to do that, as well. So nothing but respect for him and how he played this year and all the blessings he’s going to receive in the future.”
Hill is set to become a free agent in March and with the Rams lacking significant spending money, he may be on his way out. Though inconsistent at times, Hill was a valuable piece of the secondary, playing most of the defensive snaps.
After primarily playing outside prior to 2020, he transitioned to more of a slot role this past season. There were some bumps along the way, but Hill still put together a strong campaign ahead of free agency.
As for Ramsey, he’ll be sticking around for the long-term after signing a five-year extension with the Rams. He and the defense will move forward without Brandon Staley, who’s now the head coach of the Chargers, but don’t expect any sort of drop-off in Ramsey’s play.
He proved this season that he’s once again one of the two or three best cornerbacks in football, if not the very best.
