The Los Angeles Rams traded cornerback Jalen Ramsey to Miami in March 2023. Two years later, might the Miami Dolphins return the favor?
Miami gave Ramsey a lucrative contract extension just 7.5 months ago, a three-year deal worth $72 million with $24.235 million guaranteed. But the honeymoon is over, and the Dolphins are shopping the six-time Pro Bowl corner as Ramsey is due an $18.98 million bonus on Aug. 30 and already collected a $4 million bonus in March.
Will the Los Angeles Rams Reunite With Jalen Ramsey?
Rams general manager Les Snead and head coach Sean McVay didn’t back away when asked if they’d be interested in reacquiring Ramsey.
“I know there’s a lot of nuances to that situation based on all the things that come with the trade, contracts, and things like that,” Snead told reporters Tuesday. “So not sure where they’re at in the process. And what’s interesting in this is a lot of teams right now are focused on the [NFL Draft]. But this is when a lot of teams reach out … how things go in the draft, there’s other players that could be available.
“So you almost come back to a second free agency, per se, you get with your pro scouting staff and kind of figure out if trades are made and it’s player for player and things like that.”
Sean McVay and Les Snead did not close the door on a possible Rams-Jalen Ramsey reunion. Full quotes from both on the possibility. pic.twitter.com/BihJX3peQW
— Adam Grosbard (@AdamGrosbard) April 22, 2025
While the Dolphins likely would like to rid themselves of Ramsey before that August deadline, it also behooves them to trade him after the draft. If they do that, Miami could split the salary cap hit between two seasons and not take the full brunt this year.
Of course, a team that trades for Ramsey would then be on the hook for $21 million guaranteed.
Ramsey, drafted in the first round (No. 5 overall) by Jacksonville in 2018, made the Pro Bowl in each of his first six seasons and was named a first-team All-Pro three times — 2017 with the Jaguars and ’20 and ’21 with the Rams.
However, for the first time in his career, Ramsey was not selected for the Pro Bowl last season. He did start all 17 games for the Dolphins, recording two interceptions as well as six tackles for loss and four QB hits, the latter two both career highs.
Ramsey also turns 31 in October. There’s only a handful of corners aged 31 or older with contracts for 2025, and of those, only two others are likely to be a starter: Pittsburgh’s Darius Slay Jr., 34, and Darious Williams, a 32-year-old who happens to play for the Rams.
But Ramsey was part of the Rams’ 2021 Super Bowl team, and those winning players are often viewed with rose-colored glasses.
“Yeah, he’s a great player,” McVay said. “We know him very well, we know him intimately. You would certainly never rule out the possibility of that. … But you would never eliminate the possibility of adding total stud and a guy that can do a lot of different things, like he’s continued to do, like he did here, like he did in Jacksonville, and like he’s done for the last couple of years in Miami.”
McVay cautioned, as did Snead, that the draft can change things. Los Angeles certainly could go the corner route. Besides Williams, the Rams’ other starting corner is likely Ahkello Witherspoon, who the team released last year and signed to its practice squad, eventually playing 13 games with five starts.
Los Angeles dealt two first-round picks and a fourth for Ramsey back in October 2019, then swapped him to the Dolphins in return for a third-rounder and tight end Hunter Long.
What might Ramsey fetch in 2025? We might have to wait until after the draft to find out – and see if he’s reunited with McVay in L.A.