Fans hated the deal at the time, but how does it look 2 years later?
The Los Angeles Rams hit the reset button in 2023, moving on from several key players just one year after winning the Super Bowl. Among the players they jettisoned was Jalen Ramsey.
They controversially traded him to the Miami Dolphins that March, moving on from their top cornerbacks and one of the best defensive backs in the league. Even worse, they traded him for a third-round pick and backup tight end Hunter Long.
At the time, the return for the Rams seemed minimal. How did a top-tier cornerback only net Los Angeles a mid-round pick and a tight end with one career catch? Ramsey’s contract had a lot to do with it, as did the Rams essentially letting him pick his landing spot in a trade.
Even as bad as the trade looked initially, ESPN’s Bill Barnwell sees it as a “big win for the Rams.” He reevaluated several big trades from 2022 and 2023 this week and graded the Ramsey swap as a major win for Los Angeles. Why? Mostly because Byron Young has turned into a valuable playmaker for the Rams.
The Rams weren’t out of contention for long, as they made a trip back to the playoffs in 2023. Long didn’t do much, but the third-round pick became Young, who had 15.5 sacks in his first two seasons and has been playing at a Pro Bowl level so far in 2025. On a four-year, $5.5 million deal, Young has been a huge bargain for the Rams’ defense. Cornerback, meanwhile, has been a weak spot for Los Angeles, but the Rams landed a player at a more valuable position at a fraction of Ramsey’s cost.
Ramsey was on the trade block again this offseason after a falling-out with the Dolphins and the Rams were reportedly interested in potentially acquiring him. The Steelers wound up making a move for Ramsey and Jonnu Smith, sending the Dolphins a fifth-rounder and Minkah Fitzpatrick in exchange for those two players and a seventh-rounder.
Ramsey is a difference-maker when healthy but the Rams didn’t feel he was worth the high cost when they began their rebuild in 2022. Even though moving on from him was tough, the defense has been one of the best in the NFL recently despite being without a premier corner like Ramsey.
