Los Angeles Rams: The Jalen Ramsey trade is already a massive failure

The Los Angeles Rams made headlines during the season by trading for All-Pro cornerback Jalen Ramsey in a move that has already been a failure for the team.

Jalen Ramsey was in an interesting situation with the Jacksonville Jaguars last season, prompting the team to put Ramsey on the trade market, where the Los Angeles Rams swooped in and acquired the All-Pro cornerback.

It was a news-breaking trade but we should not have been surprised that it was the Rams. Over the last three to four years, Les Snead’s front office has been one of the most aggressive in the league and adding Ramsey was just another aggressive move added to the portfolio.

The team needed secondary help and they paid a pretty price to get it. The Rams traded a 2020 first-round pick, 2021 first-round pick and 2021 fourth-round pick to get Ramsey.

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Immediately after the trade, we outlined the potential dangers of the Rams trading for Ramsey and just five months after the deal was made we can already say that it has been a failure for the franchise.

It is not a failure because Ramsey has failed on the field, as Ramsey played great in Los Angeles. He was not in prime form but still made the Pro Bowl, recorded an interception and had a 71.5 season grade on Pro Football Focus.

Not his best year, but he did make the Rams secondary better, at least compared to what Marcus Peters was doing in LA. Once Peters was traded, he enjoyed a career reinvention that the Rams wish they would have had.

To make room for Ramsey, and because he just was not a great fit in LA, the Los Angeles Rams traded Marcus Peters to the Baltimore Ravens for linebacker Kenny Young and a 2020 fifth-round pick.

Peters was named a Pro Bowler and an All-Pro in 2019. He recorded three interceptions, two for touchdowns, and an 83.2 PFF grade. He had a better season than Ramsey, and it was not that close.

That is not the main reason why this is a failure, but it is a component. It also hurts that the Rams traded that fifth-round pick to get rid of Aqib Talib. The Rams sent Talib and that fifth-round pick to the Miami Dolphins for a future seventh-round pick.

I get it, they were trying to shave salary, but for the two cornerbacks that were supposed to anchor the Rams’ secondary for years to come, they received just Kenny Young, who played in only 32 percent of the Rams’ defensive snaps.

That’s not the main reason why this trade is already a failure.

The main reason why this trade is already a failure is because of the precautions the team has already had to take just for a chance at re-signing Jalen Ramsey after 2020. The Rams traded two first-round picks in a time when the team really needs those selections to bolster the roster for a season and a half of Ramsey.

Knowing that they need to free up space to extend Ramsey after 2020, the team cut Todd Gurley. Now, this was a long time coming and there was already a decent chance that Gurley would get cut at some point before Ramsey was traded to the Rams.

But the front office cut the face of the franchise because he had a bad contract so they can then go and give out another massive contract to Ramsey, because, well, they have to. If a team is going to trade two first-round picks then they absolutely have to re-sign that player to even make it worth it.

One of two things is going to happen. Either the Los Angeles Rams are going to way overspend to outbid everyone else on Ramsey and before you know it we will look at his contract in the same light as we look at Brandin Cooks.

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Or, the Los Angeles Rams are not going to be able to afford Ramsey and will have traded two first-round picks in a critical time for the franchise for 27 games, at most, of Ramsey. Unless he is an All-Pro and wins Super Bowl MVP in 2020, this Jalen Ramsey trade is already a failure.

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