Rams Trade Jalen Ramsey to Dolphins

Posted on by Jason Fitzgerald

The Rams have agreed to send CB Jalen Ramsey to the Miami Dolphins in return for a 3rd round pick and TE Hunter Long.

Ramsey was the Rams big acquisition back in 2019 when they sent two first round picks to the Jaguars to acquire Ramsey during a period when Ramsey was unhappy with the Jaguars. The Rams would sign Ramsey to a record setting contract extension the following year at $20 million a season with $71 million guaranteed of which $58 million was new guarantees.

Ramsey, who was a key member of the Rams 2021 Super Bowl team, wound up finishing just two of the five new contract years as a member of the Rams. There were rumors he was unhappy with his contract which was somewhat frontloaded. The Rams wound up paying Ramsey $45 million for the two new years, an average of $22.5 million per season. The back end of his contract, which is acquired by Miami, averages just $18.3 million a year.

The trade will leave the Rams with $19.6 million in dead money. They will create about $4.5 million in cap space, saving about $5.6M with the trade of Ramsey and then losing about $1.1 million on the addition of Long. This move is really all about 2024 as the Rams will clear $26.7 million from their cap next season as they begin a process of rebuilding. The Rams are still over the 2023 salary cap.

The Dolphins, assuming the Rams picked up no salary, will take on cap hits of $17 million, $18.5 million, and $19.5 million for 2023, 2024, and 2025. Miami has dealt with players looking for new deals before and could opt to move money up from 2024 into 2023 or redoing the deal entirely. I would expect them no matter what to reduce the cap figure from $17 million down to the $4 t0 $5 million range to maximize their cap room. Once the trade is executed the team will only have $12 million in cap room and that kind of restructure would double it.

Miami has always been very aggressive in the offseason and this year appears to be no different. I am sure that they view this as a bargain for a 3rd round pick given Ramsey’s pedigree. Miami only has a 2nd, 3rd, 6th, and 7th round pick this year as they may look to set a record for least amount of draft capital in a given year. Despite this being a poor free agent class it would seem that Miami will continue to be aggressive with trades and free agency in the next two weeks.