Jalen Ramsey didn’t publicly request a trade. It was the Rams who seemingly initiated the talk of a trade. But Ramsey also wasn’t opposed to getting moved, especially given his contract situation.
Ramsey had just $5 million guaranteed left on his deal, but after being traded to the Dolphins, he was rewarded with fully guaranteed salaries in 2023 and 2024.
There’s no doubt the Rams worked with Ramsey to find him a new team, similar to the way they did with Robert Woods last year. And Ramsey made a list of teams that could be landing spots, depending on their cornerback situation and his fit in their defense.
At the top of his list was Miami, and that didn’t change as he went through potential suitors. During his introductory press conference with the Dolphins on Thursday, Ramsey explained why he wanted to go to the Dolphins in a trade.
“A lot of reasons. This defense, this secondary. You look at it on paper, it’s something that you definitely want to be a part of,” he said. “I know I’m not the only person who wanted to be a part of it and will want to be a part of it in the future. Being back in Florida, that’s a great thing for me. Being closer to my family. My pops, he’s about to retire. He’s gonna move down here. He’s gonna enjoy life. Obviously, I’ve got my daughters, my kids, we love the warm weather. That’s always a plus. Taxes, that’s a plus. It’s a good, young team on the up and up.
Ramsey said he didn’t come into the offseason thinking he’d be traded. But when the Rams made it clear that he could be moved, he did his part by sitting down with his agent and weighing the pros and cons of possible landing spots.
“There was a lot that went into me thinking about Miami and a lot of praying that went into it,” he continued. “Mom and grandma praying over me. Super excited. I didn’t necessarily think, ‘Oh, I’ll be traded.’ But once it started to be reality, me and my team, we sat down and we kind of wrote pros and cons of different situations going on and we wrote down teams and pros and cons like which teams may be in need of a corner? Which teams might be interested? Which teams do I like, as well? Which teams will I fit whatever they’ve got going on? I remember writing down Miami and Miami stayed at the top of my list from the jump. Then I just started praying about it and it all started to visualize for me.”
Like Tyreek Hill last year, Ramsey wanted to be traded to the Dolphins. Ramsey didn’t request a trade like Hill did, but he made it clear in his press conference that he had some leverage – and he used it.
“It’s all about leverage and you gotta know your leverage and use it,” he said. “I think that’s what (Hill) did and that’s what I did, as well. That’s it. It’s just about leverage and knowing your leverage and using it and having a good team around you and trying to control your own destiny, your own journey a little bit. Because we are in a profession where things can switch so often. You never know one week, the next week might be. One year to the next year. So as much as you can try to control your destiny a little bit, I think you should. So player empowerment is a big thing for me.”
The Dolphins immediately became a better team by acquiring Ramsey, pairing him with Xavien Howard at cornerback to build a secondary that’s loaded with talent. The Rams, on the other hand, are much worse off after parting with Ramsey for a third-rounder and a backup tight end.
