The Miami Dolphins will not be able to trade Jalen Ramsey easily. In his latest SI column this week, NFL Insider Albert Breer discussed all of the issues and hurdles making this a difficult situation for the Dolphins.
I think the Los Angeles Rams would love to have him. The money is the issue for the Rams and any other potential suitor, and the Miami Dolphins who are trying to move him as well. He’s due $25.1 million this year, and all but $865,000 of it is fully guaranteed. At this point of the offseason, very few teams have the cash in the budget or room on the cap to take that salary on. In a special circumstance, you might make it work. But as good as Ramsey still is, I don’t know that there are many teams that would look at acquiring him in that way.
So, at that point, you’d be looking for the Dolphins to take on a chunk of the money to essentially “buy” a draft pick as part of the deal to offload Ramsey and his guarantees.
I think a deal with the Rams would probably require that. And I wouldn’t be against it for them, either. I think Ramsey can still play corner and could have a second life as an NFL player, a la Rod Woodson, as a safety down the line.
So, it appears the Dolphins will have to pay a large chunk of Ramsey’s salary (ie eat more dead money) just to move him and get any draft pick in return.
Because the contract is so challenging to move and difficult for any team to take on, the draft pick Miami would get in return most likely will not be a great one. I would expect Miami to get a fifth-round pick or later back for Ramsey.
At best, Miami may be able to get a conditional pick, which moves up to a higher round should Ramsey meet playing time criteria.
Ramsey only played in 27 games for the Dolphins and had five interceptions during that time.
The Dolphins’ secondary right now is in shambles, with Miami losing all four starters from last season. This offseason, they have added Ifeatu Melifonwu and Ashtyn Davis at the safety position. They have yet to add a cornerback and will now depend on Cam Smith, Storm Duck, and Kader Kohou as well as any rookies they add at that position. They used two fifth round draft picks on a cornerback and a safety but not much of either is expected from them this season.
With Ramsey soon to be gone, the cornerback position is up there with the defensive line as the biggest need on this team right now, heading into the 2025 season. I would expect Miami to look to add a veteran, unsigned cornerback on the open market still.
Rasul Douglas, Asante Samuel Jr., Stephon Gilmore, Mike Hilton, and CJ Henderson are still available players on the market whom Miami may target.
This Ramsey drama is all on Grier. He overpaid him and then gave him a raise to boot last year. Man, how nutso is that ? He then did same thing with Ty-problem Hill. Now, trading either of them is much too cumbersome for a team to take on those contracts. So, Miami will end up eating tons of money to try and trade them, no bargaining position at all. These alone are reasons to fire GM’s, when they make bad financial decisions in the millions and millions of dollars. In Corporate America, that is not tolerated at all. You will be shown the door if you waste and overspend company hard earned dollars. Ross needs to wake up from his hibernation, have a beer, then fire Grier.
I’d force Ramsey’s hand and not trade him. Fine him the maximum for all team activities he misses, occasionally take a cheap shot at him during camp (old school style) and tell him if he still wants out renegotiate his contract so we don’t have to pay him anything