Jalen Ramsey trade grades: Dolphins steal All-Pro on the cheap; Rams head toward major retool
Jalen Ramsey was traded for the second time in his NFL career and will once again call Florida home.
According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, the Rams traded Ramsey to the Dolphins on Sunday. Los Angeles gets a Day 2 draft pick and a former third-round tight end in exchange for its top cornerback.
Ramsey has had a strong 2022 NFL season with the Rams. Los Angeles couldn’t find success after their Super Bowl 56 win, but Ramsey recorded a career-high with 18 pass defenses and tied for a career-high with four interceptions. He was named to the Pro Bowl for the sixth straight season and was ranked as Pro Football Focus’s third-best cornerback for the season.
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Ramsey will now bring his talents to South Beach to give the Dolphins a cornerback upgrade. He is obviously pleased with the move as he posted the following tweet shortly after news of his trade broke.
NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport reports that the Dolphins were Ramsey’s preferred landing spot should he be traded in the off-season. So it makes sense that he would be happy about the trade.
But which side should be most excited about his return in the Ramsey trade? Sporting News breaks down the NFLs.
NFL RUMOURS: Buccaneers pursue Rams QB Baker Mayfield in free agency
Commercial grades by Jalen Ramsey
get dolphins:
get ram:
- Third-round pick 2023 (No. 77)
- TE Hunter Long
Dolphin grade: A-
The Dolphins acting for Ramsey shouldn’t come as a huge surprise. He fills a great need for the team as the team lacked a true top cornerback to Xavien Howard last season.
Byron Jones was to fill that role for Miami. However, he missed the entire season while dealing with complications from an Achilles injury. Without Jones, the Dolphins rotated through a bevy of No. 2 cornerback options including Nik Needham, Keion Crossen and Noah Igbinoghene. None proved effective long-term replacements for Jones.
Ramsey should be one. The veteran cornerback has a long track record and could form an elite cornerback duo with Howard. That, by his standards, will require some recovery from the latter after a poor season.
Still, the Dolphins’ cornerback room appears to be in good shape between Ramsey, Howard and slotman Kader Kohou. Ramsey’s presence will allow players like Crossen and Igbinoghene to take on their roles as special teams’ backups and aces, rather than being key starters for the team.
The best part about this trade is that the Dolphins didn’t give up much to get Ramsey. They traded away a third-round pick, but they still have a third-round pick even after giving the Rams the 77th pick. As for Long, the former Boston College third-round pick had played in 16 games in two seasons with the Dolphins, catching just one catch for eight yards. He was third on the team’s tight-end depth chart and was no guarantee of his inclusion in the 2023 list.
Sure, the Dolphins will inherit Ramsey’s sizable contract — which comes with cap hits of $17 million, $18.5 million and $19.5 million over the next three seasons. And Ramsey tends to get burned when he’s not making big plays. That might frustrate some in Miami.
Still, Ramsey is only 28 and should have a chance to thrive on Vic Fangio’s superb defensive system. So it’s hard to blame the dolphins for chasing him. They risk a third-round pick and a player they didn’t use to bring in a dynamic partner for Howard. It’s certainly not a bad compromise.
The only risk the Dolphins are taking is that Ramsey could quickly fall off at some point. Still, he’s young enough to fulfill the two fully guaranteed years the Dolphins signed as part of that deal.
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Aries grade: D+
Rams fans probably had one thought upon seeing the return on this trade: a collective “yuck.”
When the Rams originally acquired Ramsey, they sent two first-round picks and one fourth-round pick to the Jaguars for his services. Now, four years later, Los Angeles only gets a third-round pick and long.
This isn’t exactly an earth-shattering return; Nor will it help the Rams be more competitive than they will be in 2022.
However, the Rams are now free of Ramsey’s big contract and that will help them have more resources in the 2024 offseason. That will be of little consolation to fans who now want to see the Rams back in contention for the NFC West crown, but this team needed a mini makeover; and without moving some players for draft assets, that wouldn’t happen.
On paper, it feels like the Rams should have gotten more Ramsey. In practice, that’s possibly what he’s worth at this point, even after another season of Pro Bowl caliber. Teams just don’t like giving up top assets for cornerbacks approaching 30, no matter how good they’ve been in the past.
And as mentioned, Ramsey has been burned enough times that teams might have slight concerns about his long-term potential. So that could have been the market value for him.
Still, this package isn’t a huge shake, so perhaps the Rams could have gotten more for Ramsey by waiting. Perhaps the offers would have stayed the same, but a team desperate for cornerback help might even have increased the offer slightly to land Ramsey.
Anyway, this package doesn’t seem to be enough for the three-time All-Pro.