Jalen Ramsey is the biggest name on the trade block right now after he and the Miami Dolphins mutually agreed it’d be best to part ways. The Dolphins are still shopping the cornerback but a deal may not come together until June for salary cap purposes.
The Los Angeles Rams are one of the teams interested in acquiring him from Miami, potentially reuniting with the All-Pro cornerback on the West Coast. Les Snead and Sean McVay have both left the door open for a possible trade, though Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated notes it’ll likely take the Dolphins eating some salary to make it happen.
McVay was asked by Adam Schein of SiriusXM’s Mad Dog Sports Radio for an update on Ramsey and he says talks are continuing to take place.
“There’s not too much of an update,” McVay said. “He is a total stud and you look at, obviously he has continued to play at a really high level. He and I have kept in great touch even since we ended up trading him to Miami. Special competitor, great person, great father. And so there are a lot of layers when you’re talking about a player of his caliber – ‘All right, with regards to the contract, the compensation that they would be looking for in exchange for receiving a player of his magnitude.’ And so those conversations are ongoing, as I’m sure they are with multiple teams. And we’ll see, but we’re never going to shy away from opportunities to increase the competitiveness of our roster or add great players as long as it fits within the framework of everything that an acquisition like that would entail.”
Compensation shouldn’t be too big of a hurdle for the Rams considering the price might only be a third- or fourth-round pick. The bigger problem is his contract. Any team trading for Ramsey would inherit his current deal, though it would essentially become a $21 million commitment for just one year and then “pay as you go” after that, as Over The Cap laid out.
If Miami trades him before June 1, it would eat $29.213 million in dead money, which would be a loss of $12.55 million in cap space. Not exactly a feasible move for the Dolphins. By waiting until after June 1, they could split the dead charge over the next two years, making it more palatable for the front office.