After the Los Angeles Rams agreed to trade Jalen Ramsey to the Miami Dolphins, the consensus was that they didn’t get nearly enough for the All-Pro cornerback. Even for a cornerback who will be 29 this year, a third-round pick and reserve tight end is a small package for one of the best defensive backs in the league.
But the Dolphins weren’t the only team that was willing to trade for Ramsey. Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated shared details from the trade negotiations and he reported that there were teams willing to give up more for Ramsey than the Dolphins did.
Two things prevented the Rams from taking those offers, though: They wanted to do right by Ramsey, and Ramsey made it clear that he only wanted to go to the Dolphins.
Two days later, Snead called back with a proposal, asking whether Miami would part with the 77th pick and reserve tight end Hunter Long. There were teams willing to go further than that, but the Rams wanted to do right by Ramsey, and they also knew what Ramsey himself did—that no one would trade for the corner without knowing Ramsey would sign off on the deal. Grier told Snead he’d get back to him and went to talk to Ross, Shore and McDaniel about it.
Breer didn’t reveal which teams were in the market for Ramsey or what other offers the Rams got, but it shouldn’t surprise anyone that his value was higher than a third-rounder and a tight end with one career reception.
As badly as Ramsey wanted to go to the Dolphins, he wasn’t the one who asked for a trade.
“Ramsey didn’t want to leave L.A.,” Breer wrote in his in-depth piece. “His daughters were comfortable there. He liked playing for Sean McVay and Raheem Morris. His contract held up over time. He won a Super Bowl there. He saw himself, in time, retiring a Ram.”
Sean McVay and the Rams let Ramsey know of their intentions to clear cap space and reset a little bit, keeping him informed throughout the entire process. Those talks began in January, so their plans to explore a trade for Ramsey were long in the making.
McVay explained to Ramsey that the team was looking to conduct a significant cap cleanup over the following couple of months, plus replenish its war chest of draft picks after years of dealing picks away. Los Angeles would at least explore trading Ramsey as part of it.
According to Breer’s piece, Rams GM Les Snead started calling teams two weeks before the timeline, gauging their interest in Los Angeles’ players – not specifically Ramsey. That’s when Snead and Dolphins GM Chris Grier first talked about a deal for Ramsey, remaining in contact throughout the combine and days afterwards.
Grier wanted the Rams to throw in a late-round pick with Ramsey in exchange for the third and TE Hunter Long, but Snead turned it down.
Snead responded that, because the Rams were trying to stockpile picks, he couldn’t, and that he had other teams that were willing to give him picks without a pick giveback. Grier then got the final signoff, and it was set.
The Rams got Ramsey’s contract off the books for 2024, which was part of the goal by making this deal. They also got a third-rounder and a tight end “that Snead and McVay really wanted,” Breer says. Ramsey also got some job security by having his salaries guaranteed the next two years, landing with the team he set his sights on.
