Why the LA Rams won the Jalen Ramsey trade

The LA Rams jumped through quite a few hoops in the effort to land All-Pro defensive back Jalen Ramsey.  While many see the raw trade with the Jacksonville Jaguars that sent draft picks to the Jags, and Ramsey to the Rams, there was far more prerequisite work that needed to be accomplished by the Rams before that trade could even take place.

In 2019, the Rams were fighting feverishly to remain in the playoff hunt, and the front office was battling on two fronts. On the offensive side of the ball, offensive linemen were falling to season-ending injuries at a ridiculously rapid pace. While the personnel office and coaching staff took measures to duct tape what was left to the offensive line together well enough to finish out the season, the secondary became another hot spot in need of immediate attention.

The LA Rams began the season with starting cornerbacks Marcus Peters and Aqib Talib, with safeties John Johnson III and Eric Weddle forming the base pass defense. But very quickly in the season, Talib fell to injury and was replaced by Troy Hill. Johnson fell to injury, and he was replaced with rookie Taylor Rapp.  The newly configured secondary was zone-heavy, and the Rams were horrified to witness once-lauded defensive back Marcus Peters get burned by savvy veteran receivers.

So the Rams needed to act. But how could the team clear the salary cap space necessary to afford Jalen Ramsey, if the Rams could pry him away from the Jaguars?  We examined all the steps necessary in our Revisit LA Rams CB Peters and Ramsey trades written a year ago.  Ultimately, the Rams succeeded in clearing cap space, succeeded in trading for Jalen Ramsey, and have since succeeded in re-signing Ramsey to a multi-year deal.