Random Ramsdom: Could LA really have gotten more for Jalen Ramsey trade?

Los Angeles Rams News and Links for 3/21/23

Rams had better offers for Jalen Ramsey but wanted to do right by him (ramswire)

“After the Los Angeles Rams agreed to trade Jalen Ramsey to the Miami Dolphins, the consensus was that they didn’t get nearly enough for the All-Pro cornerback. Even for a cornerback who will be 29 this year, a third-round pick and reserve tight end is a small package for one of the best defensive backs in the league.

But the Dolphins weren’t the only team that was willing to trade for Ramsey. Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated shared details from the trade negotiations and he reported that there were teams willing to give up more for Ramsey than the Dolphins did.

Two things prevented the Rams from taking those offers, though: They wanted to do right by Ramsey, and Ramsey made it clear that he only wanted to go to the Dolphins.

Two days later, Snead called back with a proposal, asking whether Miami would part with the 77th pick and reserve tight end Hunter Long. There were teams willing to go further than that, but the Rams wanted to do right by Ramsey, and they also knew what Ramsey himself did—that no one would trade for the corner without knowing Ramsey would sign off on the deal. Grier told Snead he’d get back to him and went to talk to Ross, Shore and McDaniel about it.

Breer didn’t reveal which teams were in the market for Ramsey or what other offers the Rams got, but it shouldn’t surprise anyone that his value was higher than a third-rounder and a tight end with one career reception.

As badly as Ramsey wanted to go to the Dolphins, he wasn’t the one who asked for a trade.

“Ramsey didn’t want to leave L.A.,” Breer wrote in his in-depth piece. “His daughters were comfortable there. He liked playing for Sean McVay and Raheem Morris. His contract held up over time. He won a Super Bowl there. He saw himself, in time, retiring a Ram.”

How the Jalen Ramsey Trade Was Negotiated, and Why He Only Wanted to Go to the Dolphins (sportsillustrated)

“His daughters were comfortable there. He liked playing for Sean McVay and Raheem Morris. His contract held up over time. He won a Super Bowl there. He saw himself, in time, retiring a Ram.

But Ramsey’s also going into his eighth NFL season, and as the same player who once announced his desire for a new contract by showing up to Jaguars training camp in a Brink’s truck (yes, an actual Brink’s truck), he understands the business side of the game. And it was that business side that McVay was coming to him to discuss in January as the Rams started to shape their plan for the offseason.

McVay explained to Ramsey that the team was looking to conduct a significant cap cleanup over the following couple of months, plus replenish its war chest of draft picks after years of dealing picks away. Los Angeles would at least explore trading Ramsey as part of it.

The hard reality was that Ramsey was probably the most tradeable within the Rams’ constellation of stars. Aaron Donald and Cooper Kupp were both homegrown, a little older than the corner, and Donald, specifically, would probably rather retire than go to most other teams. Trading Matthew Stafford would have larger implications, of course, given that he plays quarterback. And McVay took Ramsey through all of that, promising to keep him abreast of any further developments.

Los Angeles’s plan went well beyond just the idea of moving its top corner. If the Rams ever wanted to be aggressive in trading for veterans in the future, as they had been over McVay’s first six years, they’d need more cap, cash and picks to pull it off. They’d realized it in looking back at their effort to poach Brian Burns from the Panthers in the fall—and how doing the deal and paying Burns, as good as Burns is, would’ve hobbled them from a flexibility standpoint going forward.

If McVay, GM Les Snead, COO Kevin Demoff and lead negotiator Tony Pastoors had decided to kick the can down the road cap-wise for another year, could they have done it? Of course they could have. But they’d done enough of that over the years to make two Super Bowls, win one and, last year, try to defend that championship, creating a natural crossroads.

Simply put, if the Rams went the other way, pushed more money off and eschewed a one-year, dead-cap purge (like the Bears and Falcons did last year, or the Bills did in 2018), then they’d be looking at a multiyear dig out from all the debt they’d rung up.”

Odell Beckham Return?: Rams Monitoring Situation ‘Closely’ (fannation/ramsdigest)

“The NFL Network’s Jim Trotter described the Rams as a team watching Beckham’s situation “closely.”

“I’ve been told Odell has stayed in regular contact with Matthew Stafford as well as Cooper Kupp, and the GM Les Snead has remained in regular contact with Odell’s agent,” Trotter said.

As Trotter would point out, the Rams haven’t been big spenders and aren’t looking to become as they only sit on $8 million in projected cap space. But with Beckham’s familiarity with the Rams’ offense and Sean McVay, it could prove as a valuable deal for both sides.

Beckham could sign a one-year contract where he can reprove himself to those around the league after the ACL injury while the Rams add another piece to an offense that struggled in 2022.

Would OBJ take a prove-it deal to reunite with the Rams?

A recent tweet says he wouldn’t, as Beckham publicly scoffed at the idea of being worth $4 million. But that was before the Dallas Cowboys seemingly took themselves out of the running with the trade deal to acquire Brandin Cooks.”

Rams have spent less than every team in free agency so far (ramswire)

“The only signing the Rams have made so far was Coleman Shelton, who they gave a two-year deal worth $4.75 million to keep in Los Angeles. Otherwise, it’s been all about departures.

More like, Loss Angeles, am I right?

According to Over The Cap, the Rams’ $4.75 million spent ranks 31st in the NFL. The Packers’ $4 million in spending is last, but Over The Cap hasn’t accounted for their signings of Rudy Ford, Matthew Orzech and Tarvarius Moore. Orzech and Moore’s financials haven’t been reported, but Ford alone got a deal worth up to $2.5 million, so that would put Green Bay ahead of the Rams in spending.

The next-closest team to the Rams and Packers is Baltimore, which has spent $10.9 million; the Titans are 29th, having spent $17.1 million in free agency. Of the 32 teams, 28 have spent at least $20 million.

On the complete opposite end of the spectrum, the Giants lead the NFL with $239 million spent in free agency, which includes Daniel Jones’ $160 million deal.”

Bengals DB Nick Scott Sends Heartfelt Thanks to Rams on Twitter (fannation/ramsdigest)

“As the Los Angeles Rams prepare for the upcoming season, they continue to look less and less like the team that won the Super Bowl just two years ago.

Of course, no team lasts forever. However it is never easy seeing core players responsible for a championship move on – especially for said players. The latest example of this for the Rams is safety Nick Scott, who is headed to the Cincinnati Bengals on a three-year, $12 million deal.

Fans were of course not glad to see a fan-favorite player depart, and Scott took to Twitter to let them know he felt the love and was grateful for the opportunities provided to him by the Rams.”