Miami Dolphins general manager Chris Grier has been very quiet this entire offseason, but he held his pre-draft press conference last week. At the press conference, he confirmed that star cornerback Jalen Ramsey and the team mutually agreed to try to work out a trade.
The question I have is, why go public?
I don’t know what Grier expects to gain by letting everyone know he is available. It won’t benefit the Dolphins because if they make a trade now, they will take a cap hit. They aren’t going to get anything for him this year, most likely because teams are mostly done with big spending and budgeting for the draft.
Some teams still have ample money to spend and could take on Ramsey’s contract, but why? The Dolphins would most likely have to wait until after the draft to make a deal, specifically after June 1st, when the cap hit is spread out. Still, the Dolphins would have to take future picks in the draft and would benefit from them down the road, but for a team with a GM and head coach on the hot seat, it doesn’t help them.
There are rumors that the Atlanta Falcons and Las Vegas Raiders are interested in Ramsey. I don’t see the Falcons doing anything because one, they are up against the cap, and two, they don’t have a lot of draft picks this year. Could there be a player they could deal, such as tight end Kyle Pitts? Then maybe something could be worked out. The Raiders have a lot of cap space and have draft picks. Plus, head coach Pete Carroll loves corners, so maybe there could be a fit.
There is also the possibility that Grier has done some backchannel work, has something working, but needs to try to get a team to increase their offer. That could be, but I doubt it. Teams can never have enough corners, and a contender might be willing, and maybe the Dolphins could use Ramsey to improve their draft position. That is common. Remember in 2018, the Buffalo Bills traded left tackle Cordy Glenn to the Cincinnati Bengals and swapped first-round picks.
The Bills had two first-round picks in the early 20s and swapped the 22nd pick for the 12th pick, which was a big deal because it helped them trade up to get Josh Allen. If they didn’t make that deal, they would have had to trade a lot more. The Dolphins and the Philadelphia Eagles did this in 2016. The Eagles traded Byron Maxwell and Kiko Alonso to the Dolphins, and they swapped first-round picks. Could that be a play? Maybe.
Grier can’t settle for trading Ramsey. He must try to get the best value he can, but he might have overplayed his hand. We will probably find out more in the coming days, with the draft two days away.
