This is the unfortunate reality of when a team goes all in for a Super Bowl. The Los Angeles Rams have continued retooling their 2022 Super Bowl winning roster as they have just traded All-Pro CB Jalen Ramsey to the Miami Dolphins for a draft pick and backup TE.
I think it’s pretty clear why this move was made by the Rams. They desperately needed CAP SPACE!
The single-most important reason as to why the Rams had one of the worst ever Super Bowl defense seasons in modern NFL history (they finished 5-12, 3rd in the NFC West, and 5 games behind the 7th seeded Seahawks for a playoff spot) was due to the Rams lack of depth.
Rather, the Rams had no depth at all as when all of their starting players went down with injury (ex: Matthew Stafford, Cooper Kupp, Aaron Donald, Allen Robinson III and 4/5th of the offensive line), they were forced to plug the gaps with 3rd stringers, practice squad players, undrafted rookies, and rejects from other teams.
Why did that happen? It’s because they overspent their cap space on said superstar talents, such as Stafford, Kupp, Donald, Robinson, Jalen Ramsey, Bobby Wagner, etc.
Now, don’t get me wrong, this was a genius move as it won them a Super Bowl. It wasn’t a move that was ever going to keep the Rams in Super Bowl contention for the next 15 years like the Patriots dynasties of the 2000’s and 2010’s, but they achieved what most teams in the NFL have not by actually winning a Super Bowl.
Players like Cooper Kupp, Jalen Ramsey, Eric Weddle (who retired last offseason), Aaron Donald, Andrew Whitworth (who retired last offseason), and Von Miller (who moved on to Buffalo last offseason) all cemented their legacies with the SB win and have a serious shot of making the Hall of Fame when they eventually retire (or in 6 years in Weddle and Whitworth’s case).
Meanwhile, the Rams organization moved into an upper echelon of greatness by winning Super Bowl 56 as the team has not only won 2 Super Bowls (only the 15th team to do so), but it also became only the 12th team in the NFL’s 56-year Super Bowl history to reach at least 5 Super Bowl appearances.
Historic franchises like the Chicago Bears, Philadelphia Eagles, Minnesota Vikings, Baltimore/Indianapolis Colts (Indy is the official continuation of the old Colts team), Baltimore Ravens, and Buffalo Bills all have less Super Bowl appearances than the Los Angeles Rams. Clearly, stocking up on veteran players with big contracts was a smart move by Rams GM Les Sneed.
But, like I said, once that Super Bowl winning window slammed shut (as it did last season), those contracts would age worse than milk.
That’s why the Rams have released Leonard Floyd, Bobby Wagner, and nine other roster players within the last 3 or so weeks, and have agreed to trade Jalen Ramsey, who is still one of the Top-10 bets CBs in the game, to the Miami Dolphins for a 2023 3rd round pick and TE Hunter Long. The Rams are retooling (more like slyly rebuilding), and Ramsey’s 5-year, $100M contract was just too much to burden anymore.
As for the Dolphins, this is a brilliant move as they were able to fill the void Byron Jones’ departure (he will be cut in a few days) in the secondary left with one of the best cornerbacks in the last decade. I know Ramsey had a down year (by his loft standards), but the man is only 28 (still on the right side of 30 for cornerbacks), he still made the Pro-Bowl (for what that’s worth these days), and has been instrumental in winning a Super Bowl for a franchise.
So, with the Dolphins aspirations clearly to win now with Tua, bringing in a guy like Ramsey is a great addition. He not only provides an All-Pro level shutdown coverage on the outside of the defense, but he also can instill his winning experience to the players who haven’t won yet.
It’s just too bad Ramsey couldn’t finish out his career in Los Angeles as he really seemed to like it out there.
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