Miami Dolphins' Jalen Ramsey could have his best season ever in 2023 | You Pod to Win the Game
Yahoo Sports' Charles Robinson, Frank Schwab and Charles McDonald discuss the Miami Dolphins' trade to acquire star cornerback Jalen Ramsey from the Los Angeles Rams. The trio analyze why the Dolphins were able to acquire Ramsey for cheap, Ramsey's fit in the Miami defense under defensive coordinator Vic Fangio and what to expect from a young and hungry Miami Dolphins team in 2023.
Video Transcript
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CHARLES ROBINSON: Jalen Ramsey was traded to the Dolphins. This has been a year in the making. It was going to happen a year ago. Even if the Rams had hit it big last year and done really well, I think they were moving Jalen Ramsey almost automatically once the season ended. Because they knew eventually down the line, he was going to command an extension. They were never going to pay, and probably not have the ability to pay. And they knew he was going to be a guy who would probably have something to offer.
What they didn't know was that they would implode in 2022. And he would not, frankly, put all of his best work on film. And that would impact his market in the long run. I think it's-- the Dolphins to me only having to give up a third rounder and Hunter Long, you're probably going to get a motivated Jalen Ramsey. I can only imagine. He absolutely clearly wants to be in Miami. He's very happy about this.
But I think you're going to get the best of Jalen Ramsey, not the-- I don't know what other factors were there. But I can just tell you that this is a guy who, going and playing in Miami, I would be stunned if he was not playing at an All-Pro level in 2023.
FRANK SCHWAB: I agree with that. One thing that I took away from this is, how good is the AFC is going to be this year? I know we did this whole dance with the AFC West last year. It didn't really pan out that way. But man, this is a loaded division. The Dolphins, I thought it was the right move. I thought it was aggressive. Go get that All-Pro corner, which they needed another corner. I like it, like it a lot for the Dolphins.
The Rams, it's hard to tell where the Rams are at right now. You still got some old bones from that Super Bowl team. But you're kind of retooling. I don't know where the Rams are with this. But I can tell you from a Miami standpoint, you have to go get the guy who, for really not much cost as far as draft capital goes or player capital, is going to give you an All-Pro season.
I totally agree with you, Charles. He's still at the top of his game. He still got a couple of great years left. Good on you, Miami.
CHARLES ROBINSON: And the price tag, real quick, just so people can understand this. People are like, well, how come you only got a third round pick? When I was at the combine, the thought process was that they were going to get a second out of him. And the thought process on why they were going to get a second, not a first, was he definitely wants a new deal. And how do we get over the reality of cutting him a new deal, when he's got a couple of years left still on this deal?
While the way they overcame that, Miami just said, look, we're going to guarantee you another $25 million when this comes in. So they kind of split the baby. They didn't give him a brand new deal. So it makes a lot of sense. But I do think that weighed on the value. I thought they'd get more than a third. I really thought it would be a second. Apparently, that money and then his uneven play last year probably rocked it a little bit.
CHARLES MCDONALD: So Jalen Ramsey is the winner of the Jalen Ramsey trade, is what you're saying.
CHARLES ROBINSON: He's going to Miami, man!
CHARLES MCDONALD: Hey, got a pay raise.
FRANK SCHWAB: He got paid.
CHARLES ROBINSON: You got paid.
FRANK SCHWAB: Yeah.
CHARLES ROBINSON: You got paid. You've got more guaranteed money. And you didn't have to lock yourself in for more years.
CHARLES MCDONALD: From just a football stance to make this a whole lot of sense, too. Because if you go back to Jalen Ramsey's best year, that was with Brandon Staley, who's the Vic Fangio disciple.
CHARLES ROBINSON: Yeah.
CHARLES MCDONALD: Who's now running the defense in Miami. So obviously, Jalen hasn't played for Vic Fangio before. But he knows the defense that he's about to be playing in. And it was the defense that he had a whole lot of success. And so I think if you look at the Dolphins, the defense, it can be turned around fairly quickly. Because you're going to have Bradley Chubb in there for another year. Christian Wilkins is a monster. Vic Fangio, Jalen Ramsey, guys like Jevon Holland at safety.
CHARLES ROBINSON: Yeah.
CHARLES MCDONALD: It's not-- I thought that their defense should have played better than they did last year, just based on the parts that they had. Obviously, it wasn't a perfect defense. But I didn't think it was one of the units, when you look at the personnel, that should be getting ran through up and down the field every week. So this kind of solidifies them. It gives them a guy who is on pace to be a Hall of Fame talent. And for Jalen, like you said, he still gets to cash in a couple of years.
I'm kind of interested to see what the back half of Jalen's career looks like.
CHARLES ROBINSON: Yeah.
CHARLES MCDONALD: And where he ends up playing. Because yeah, I think when you go back again to the year that he had with Brandon Staley, a lot of his good work came in the slot. And I always thought that he's the guy that when the legs start to die at cornerback, could he make that switch to safety? And I think that this is kind of a good spot for him to figure that out, even though he's still definitely got some miles left at cornerback.
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