KEY POINTS
- The Rams have sent Jalen Ramsey To the Dolphins in salary dump move
- Ramsey beefs up the defense of the Dolphins, who could be AFC East contenders next season
- The Rams are likely to sever ties with other players to make sure they don’t go beyond their salary cap
The Los Angeles Rams will sport a different look next NFL season with reports that they have closed a deal with the Miami Dolphins involving cornerback Jalen Ramsey.
According to Adam Schefter of ESPN, the Rams have reportedly traded Ramsey in exchange for Hunter Long as well as the Dolphins’ 2023 third-round pick.
However, the trade will only be made official by Wednesday, March 15 when the new league year opens.
For now, both teams have allegedly agreed in principle.
The decision of the Rams to trade off Ramsey is believed to be because Los Angeles was wary of their cap situation.
The six-time Pro Bowler carried a $17 million base salary for 2023. Once the trade is consummated, the Rams will save $5.6 million in cap space for this year.
Although they will save on cap space, this also hints that the Super Bowl contending days of the Rams may be over.
For some time, there has been growing speculation that Los Angeles was headed to a fire sale and the Ramsey deal was apparently tied to this.
Aside from Ramsey, edge-rusher Leonard Floyd is also gone while the name of Allen Robinson II is also circulating the rumor mill.
The fate of Matthew Stafford also remains unclear although the Rams claim that they are not shopping the play-caller.
Ramsey continues to play at a high level, but the money that he carried was something the Rams wanted to avoid.
However, the case may be different for the Dolphins, a move seen to justify how serious they are about their next NFL campaign.
The coming of the one-time Super Bowl champion CB will bolster the defense of the Dolphins. The deal also projects Miami as a legitimate threat to the AFC East. But that may still depend on other factors–particularly Tua Tagovailoa.
In 2022, the Dolphins won nine games and made the NFL playoffs.