This is why the Rams traded him for a third

Jalen Ramsey has always followed the money and there’s nothing wrong with that, but it’s why the Los Angeles Rams had to trade him in 2023 and also why they could only get a third round pick and Hunter Long from the Miami Dolphins to do so. Now only two seasons after the trade and less than a year after the Dolphins made Ramsey the highest-paid cornerback in the NFL on an extension, the two sides are set to part ways.

Miami would be elated to get the same third round pick and player that they gave up to get Ramsey in 2023, but this is the cratering value that the Rams knew would happen when they took that same package to trade him at a time when he was asking to be paid more than he’s worth.

Many fans and members of the media expressed shock when Ramsey was “only” traded for a third round pick, but that was certainly the best offer in the league because he was an almost-30 cornerback who wanted the rest of his contract to be guaranteed. The only thing kind of surprising about the trade was Ramsey finding a team that would do it.

But never underestimate the Miami Dolphins’ willingness to overpay and under-deliver.

A history of money-first focus

Again, there’s nothing wrong with a player prioritizing his career earnings so long as that player delivers on the field, which is what Jalen Ramsey has done for the majority of his football life.

Ramsey wants to go to the team that will pay him the most and when that team was the Rams, he helped L.A. win a Super Bowl.

Similarly, Darrelle Revis only ever wanted to play for the team that would pay him the most — in fact, Revis REVOLUTIONIZED player contracts and getting the most money possible by betting on himself with short-term deals — and he helped the New England Patriots win the Super Bowl in 2014.

Don’t confuse “he likes money” with being an insult when it is it actually just an observation. And a fair one.

Jalen Ramsey claimed to have an injury in 2019 when the Jacksonville Jaguars wouldn’t pay him as much as he thought he was worth, but was immediately to practice after the Jaguars traded him to the Rams for two first round picks that same season.

Ramsey then said that trade rumors were ridiculous and the furthest thing from the truth when they started to bubble up in the 2023 offseason, only to later tweet that he had been dreaming of the trade to the Dolphins for months when it finally happened.

Ramsey has been very upfront about the fact that he would holdout of games if it meant getting a better contract.

Well, when a player is that well known for leaving a team when he wants more money, what else should fans expect when he leaves that team than an underwhelming trade package?

Going into the 2023 season, Ramsey had two years left on the “biggest DB contract in history” that he signed in 2020, but none of it was guaranteed. That’s the main reason why the Rams traded him and why they got a third round pick and a third-string tight end for a player who was often called the best cornerback in the league.

Immediately upon arrival in Miami, the Dolphins FULLY GUARANTEED both the 2023 and 2024 seasons on his contract.

Now you look back at the 2023 offseason, the insults hurled at Les Snead for trading Ramsey for a third round pick, and ask yourself this question:

Should the Rams have fully guaranteed Ramsey’s 2023 and 2024 seasons at $17 million each?

No.

Without Jalen Ramsey, the Rams have gone 10-7 in each of the past two seasons, making the playoffs both times and nearly upsetting the Eagles in 2024. Even with cornerback as an obvious weak spot on the roster, often featuring Ahkello Witherspoon as the best on the team, it’s hard to argue that Ramsey would have put L.A. over the top in any capacity.

Especially given the additional $34 million in cash that the Rams kept by trading him.

(Although to be devil’s advocate, the money unfortunately went to Jonah Jackson.)

In that same period of time, Ramsey missed seven games in 2023 with an injury. Though he has played in the last 27 games straight without any setbacks, Ramsey is on the trade block because the Dolphins know that at this stage of his career, he’s either replaceable or no longer good enough to justify the three-year, $72 million extension signed last September.

Which was largely because the team didn’t want to pay him the $25 million cap hit he was originally due in 2025.

That cap hit is now $16.6 million even though his total guaranteed cash in 2025 is actually $24.2 million. For a 31-year-old cornerback.

Should the Dolphins find a team take Ramsey’s contract off of their hands in 2025, the amount of cap space they would LOSE — yes, LOSE — is complicated.

Per OvertheCap’s Jason Fitzgerald, the Dolphins could lose up to $12.5 million if traded by the draft, but they will most likely be trying to work with Ramsey’s agent on a renegotiation of his bonuses in some capacity just to be able to facilitate a deal. But that might not even be the biggest hurdle, as Miami also needs to find a sucker willing to pay Ramsey up to $21 million in 2025 despite the perception that he’s not going to be that great at age 31.

The cost for the Dolphins on the salary cap will be high regarding a trade. Ramsey already earned a $4 million bonus in March from Miami, bringing the number for a pre June trade up to $29.213 million. That would be a loss of about $12.55 million in cap room. Miami would also be charged an additional $3.796 million for his option bonus if they did not renounce it prior to the trade. They would receive a cap credit in 2026 for that salary but it would be difficult on Miami’s cap this year. Odds are any trade during the draft would require Miami to renegotiate another contract for cap relief.

If the team waits until after the draft until they make the trade they can split the salary cap costs between 2025 and 2026. In that scenario Miami would take on $14.541 million in charges with $3.796 being credited to Miami in 2026. The dead money in 2026 would be $18.468 million. Given that teams are more prone to trading away future draft picks rather than current ones, this scenario might make the most sense for both sides.

Does any of this sound like fun to you? Because if the Rams had not traded Ramsey for a third round pick and Hunter Long — again, I’m not sure how else to say this, that was almost certainly the best offer that Les Snead was ever going to get — then this is the mind-numbing cap-solving puzzle that Tony Pastoors and company would be going through right now.

Some owe Snead an apology

The Rams were usually cited as the “losers” of the Ramsey trade, with many pointing to Snead as an ignorant buffoon who never gets enough in return — but they didn’t take into account Ramsey’s contract guarantees, his age, or the likelihood that two years later he would be asking for a trade again.

I don’t know if people thought that the Rams could get more than a third round pick for Ramsey in 2023, or if they were just confused because the team traded him at all, but both of the answers as to why it happened are summed up simply with:

Because Jalen Ramsey wanted to be overpaid and the Rams didn’t want to overpay him, nor did most other teams in the NFL.

Not a single player in this league has been traded for a first round pick since early 2022, so nobody should be confusing a 30-something year old cornerback demanding $35 million to be guaranteed as the one who was going to be an exception!

And now he’s almost 31!

Maybe there was some team out there that would have traded a late second or an earlier third, neither of which has significantly more value than pick 77, but the team was also hoping to get Ramsey out of the NFC. Even still, I don’t think that Snead would have turned down a top-50 pick if one was offered.

CLEARLY NO TEAMS WERE OFFERING THAT. Not because Jalen Ramsey stopped being a good player, but because it wasn’t hard to see that his future contract figures and demands were going to be antithetical to any GM who wanted to build a championship roster.

Les Snead is not a perfect GM, certainly at times L.A.’s moves have been questionable and too risky (or too safe) and we can point to plenty of examples of “should’ve done this” or “could’ve done that”. This is not a blanket defense of Snead, nor would I spend any time doing that because there could be a time when the Rams are no longer as successful as they’ve been since 2017.

However, the worst time to criticize the Rams was when they traded Ramsey for a third round pick.

That was actually a good move — as was trading for him 2019 before he helped them win the Super Bowl — because of all the future bad moves it helped L.A. avoid.