Dolphins acquire Jalen Ramsey. What to know about Dolphins’ new Pro Bowl cornerback

The Dolphins are acquiring Los Angeles Rams Pro Bowl cornerback Jalen Ramsey in a blockbuster move that augments the position that was Miami’s top priority this offseason.

In exchange, the Dolphins are sending a 2023 third-round pick and tight end Hunter Long to the Rams.

The trade, confirmed by a league source, will become official when the new league year starts at 4 p.m. on Wednesday. Other teams were interested in Ramsey, but he wanted to come to the Dolphins.

“I prayed for this specifically for about a month & now it’s happening! @MiamiDolphins LETSGO!” Ramsey said on Twitter on Sunday.

Ramsey told NFL Network that the Dolphins are ”getting a leader, one of biggest competitors ever. I make my teammates better. All the guys I got around, obviously you have X [Xavien Howard], Jevon [Holland], you got the D-line that you know is going crazy, with Christian [Wilkins]. Offense, you know what they’re talking about, Tyreek [Hill], Jaylen [Waddle], Tua [Tagovailoa]. It’s going to be fun, going to be exciting. Got to get to work though ... I’m going to bring that piece of the puzzle.”

The third-round pick that’s being sent to the Rams, 77th overall, was acquired from the New England Patriots for wide receiver DeVante Parker last year. Miami still has one second-round pick (No. 51 overall) and one third-round pick (No. 84) in next month’s NFL Draft, in addition to sixth- and seventh-round selections.

Acquiring Ramsey gives Miami a top-flight boundary cornerback, in his prime at age 28, to pair with Howard, a four-time Pro Bowl who will be 30 by the time the 2023 season starts.

The trade will allow Kader Kohou or another player to play the nickel role and improve a pass defense that was among the league’s worst last season.

Ramsey has three years remaining on a five-year, $105 million contract that is due to pay him $17 million in 2023, $17.5 million in 2024 and $19.5 million in 2025.

The Dolphins retooled his contract, guaranteeing him his full $17 million salary in 2023 and $17.5 million in 2024. None of that money had been guaranteed before the restructure.

Ramsey’s $17 million cap hit could be lowered to the $5 million range by converting a large chunk of his base salary into a signing bonus. Such a move is expected. Without doing so, the Dolphins could have only about $11 million in cap space entering the start of free agency on Monday.

The Rams, who are retooling their roster, had been fielding trade calls on Ramsey for several weeks. The trade saves Los Angeles $4.5 million in cap space.

Ramsey was a first-team All-Pro in 2017, 2020 and 2021 and a Pro Bowler each of the past six seasons. He had four interceptions each of the past two seasons and 19 picks and 92 passes defended during his seven-year career.

“Practice is going to be crazy now,” Hill tweeted after the trade leaked.

Ramsey told NFL Network: “He’s going to make me better and I’m going to make him better.”

Jacksonville selected Ramsey fifth overall in the 2016 draft and traded him to the Rams in October 2019 in exchange for two first-round picks and a fourth-round pick.

He signed the five-year contract extension in September 2020, a deal that guaranteed him $71.2 million and made him the highest-paid defensive back in NFL history.

NFL players ranked him the ninth-best player on the league’s 2022 top 100 list.

Ramsey underwent surgery on both shoulders last June but played in all 17 games last season, producing four interceptions, 88 tackles, 18 passes defended, two forced fumbles, a fumble recovery and a sack.

Pro Football Focus rated Ramsey the third-best cornerback in football last season, behind only the New York Jets’ Sauce Gardner and Denver Broncos’ Patrick Surtain Jr. Pro Football Focus rated him first overall in 2021. Besides being good in coverage, he’s also considered among the league’s best cornerbacks against the run.

But Ramsey’s metrics declined somewhat the past two seasons, and his seven touchdowns allowed last season were second-most in football, according to Next Gen Stats.

Ramsey, who grew up in Tennessee and attended Florida State, gives the Dolphins six veteran cornerbacks under contract: Ramsey, Howard, Kohou, Keion Crossen, Trill Williams and Noah Igbinoghene.

The Dolphins plan to release veteran corner Byron Jones this week, but his $13.6 million in cap savings won’t come until after June 1. Jones missed last season after an injury in the ankle/Achilles area, and he recently tweeted that he’s unable to run or jump.

Free agent Nik Neeham can return if he wishes; the question is whether another team would be willing to offer more to a player coming off a ruptured Achilles.’ Cornerback Justin Bethel also is a free agent.

Even with Ramsey, the Dolphins still could add another cheap backup corner — and a starting-caliber safety — in free agency.

The Dolphins, who hired well-regarded defensive coordinator Vic Fangio, ranked 24th in scoring defense, 27th in pass defense and 30th in takeaways last season. Ramsey has spent the last few seasons in Los Angeles playing in a similar scheme as the one Fangio will implement — heavy on zone coverages — and has the versatility to not only play in the boundary but in the slot.

As for Long, the former third-round pick caught one pass in two years with the Dolphins, playing 183 offensive snaps. With fellow tight end Mike Gesicki expected to leave in free agency, the Dolphins have two tight ends under contract: Durham Smythe and Tanner Conner. That position will be addressed in the months ahead.

The Ramsey trade marks the second consecutive offseason that the Dolphins added a former first-team All-Pro in a trade, following last year’s acquisition of four-time All-Pro receiver Tyreek Hill.

THIS AND THAT

In general conversations with associates, the Dolphins have given indications that they will be active in the inside linebacker market when free agency opens on Monday.

Besides obviously needing linebackers to stop the run, new coordinator Vic Fangio also likes inside linebackers who can defend the pass, and that’s an area where the Dolphins need to improve at the position.

According to Pro Football Focus, the passer ratings against all the Dolphins’ inside linebackers last season were too high – 107.8 against Jerome Baker, 108.1 against Duke Riley and 112.8 against Elandon Roberts.

Roberts quibbles with those stats, asserting that PFF doesn’t know who has responsibility for coverage on some of those plays. And that’s a fair point.

That being said, the Dolphins plan to call several prominent free agent linebackers when free agency opens on Monday.

Among the free agents who graded out well in pass coverage: Philadelphia’s TJ Edwards (79.9 passer rating against), Buffalo’s Tremaine Edmunds (80.4), Las Vegas’ Denzel Perryman (82.7), Tennessee’s David Long (87), recent Rams cut Bobby Wagner (92.4) and the Chargers’ Drue Tranquill (95.4).

Among all linebackers, PFF rated Edmonds first and Tampa Bay’s Lavonte David fourth in pass coverage. They are two of the best linebackers in this free agent class.

At least a few of the aforementioned names are on Miami’s radar; how much Miami will be willing to spend remains a mystery.

Among other prominent, productive free agent inside linebackers in a deep class, Eric Kendricks had 137 tackles but a 107.2 passer rating in his coverage area and Bobby Okereke had 151 tackles but a 103 passer rating against.

Roberts and Riley are free agents, and the Dolphins must decide by a Friday deadline whether to guarantee Baker’s $8.4 million salary for next season, with a $3.7 million prorated bonus accounting for his high $12.5 million cap number.

Baker’s cap number would drop to $3.7 million if he’s cut or traded after June 1, but that would be somewhat surprising if the Dolphins go in that direction. They could also restructure his contract for the second time in five months to create cap space.

THIS AND THAT

The Dolphins hadn’t pursued a new deal with free agent No. 3 safety Eric Rowe as of Saturday afternoon, and the expectation is that another veteran player will be added to the team’s safeties, a group including Jevon Holland, Brandon Jones, Elijah Campbell and Verone McKinley III.

▪ The Dolphins have delayed making offers (or offers that would be seriously considered) on some of their incumbent free agents for a few days. That could suggest they want to target outside options before re-signing some of their own.

At times in the past, the Dolphins have addressed some of their backup player free agents two or three days into free agency.

▪ Free agent quarterback Baker Mayfield is not in play for the Dolphins; Tampa Bay is expected to target him as a potential starter, per NFL Network.

Miami either will sign a clear-cut backup (Andy Dalton, Gardner Minshew, Taylor Heinicke, Marcus Mariota are the top options) or a lower-tiered option (Sam Darnold, Case Keenum, Nick Mullens, Mike White) and have him compete with Skylar Thompson for the No. 2 job.

Teddy Bridgewater is a free agent, and his durability issues last season foiled what could have been a productive marriage.