from Sando: NFL execs weigh in on the notable October trades

from NFL execs weigh in on the notable October trades

Mike Sando

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CB Jalen Ramsey from the Jacksonville Jaguars to the Los Angeles Rams for 2020 and 2021 first-round picks, plus a 2021 fourth-rounder

Ramsey age: 25
Ramsey draft: 2016 1st round (No. 5)
Ramsey contract: $13.7M option for 2020

This trade played to mostly negative reviews from a Rams standpoint among execs consulted for a piece published two weeks ago. Ramsey doesn’t have a long-term contract. He’s clashed with coaches, management and officials during his career. Some thought the Rams had more pressing needs along their offensive line — needs the team might have addressed with the picks sent to Jacksonville. Some questioned whether the Rams remained a true championship contender or even a playoff team after losing to both San Francisco and Seattle. Were they really a cornerback away?

But not everyone was that skeptical.

“If you are getting a difference maker, I’m alright with the compensation,” a general manager said. “Ramsey is a difference maker. It’s like Khalil Mack. You get a premium player at a premium position — left tackle, defensive end, corner — then you do it.”

You do it, that is, if you’ve already got a franchise quarterback, because if you do not have one, you’ll probably need those high picks to find one. In this case, the Rams have already been to a Super Bowl with Jared Goff. In the Chicago Bears’ case, they upgraded their defense with Mack, but if Mitch Trubisky is not their long-term quarterback, they won’t have the draft capital to find a replacement as easily. They could be doomed as a result. Even in the Rams’ case, there are some in the league who question how far Goff can take Los Angeles without everything around him being just right.

Look at the teams that have traded away multiple first-round picks recently. The Texans, who traded two first-rounders for Laremy Tunsil, appear best off at quarterback with Deshaun Watson. The Rams have bet big on Goff. The Bears are not yet all-in financially on Trubisky.

“I would say the Bears felt like Mack was the guy that could get them over the hump to be a championship contender, and if the quarterback and kicker were better, that is probably true,” an exec said. “When you are talking about giving up these kinds of picks for a non-quarterback, you had better have a quarterback. The Rams paid Goff earlier than they had to pay him, and they had better be right, especially now.”

An evaluator who initially criticized the Rams for the trade changed his mind after looking farther into the future. Some of the bigger salaries on the books for the Rams in upcoming seasons could plausibly disappear through attrition, making it easier for the team to carry what figures to be a large number for Ramsey. Todd Gurley and Brandin Cooks are two expensive Rams players with injury concerns who might not be there multiple seasons down the line. Multiple defensive players could leave in free agency this coming offseason. In that case, building around Aaron Donald and Ramsey isn’t a bad start.

“Has there ever been a good player overpaid?” the evaluator asked. “You are never going to say, ‘Ah, man, Khalil Mack has been a great pass-rusher, but we paid him too much.’ When have we ever said that about a great player?”

The Rams are getting one of the few elite players at his position. There simply aren’t very many true No. 1 cornerbacks in a league that continually tweak rules to enable passing. Ramsey is almost surely better than any players the Rams would have selected in the first round of the next two drafts, especially if the team continues to draft later in the round.

“I understand the monetary implications, but give me Von Miller or Khalil Mack for two first-round picks,” another evaluator said. “Nobody is knocking the significance of having multiple stabs in the draft, but let’s not also forget what it’s like to have somebody that is proven in a spot that you don’t have anybody at.”

The Rams had Marcus Peters and Talib at corner, but neither necessarily figured into their long-term plans. Ramsey does, in a big way.

As for the Jaguars’ side of this trade, there were two issues: what they got in return, and how their relationship with Ramsey became untenable. Execs agreed that if Jacksonville had to trade its best player, getting two firsts and a fourth was a solid haul. But there were also questions about the organization’s ability to handle players with the old-school Tom Coughlin heading up the personnel department. One exec joked — or perhaps he was serious — that if he owned the Jaguars, he might have chosen Ramsey over Coughlin, on the thinking that execs are much easier to find than elite corners in their prime.

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CB Aqib Talib and a 2020 fifth-round pick from the Los Angeles Rams to the Miami Dolphins for an undisclosed future pick

Talib age: 33
Talib draft: 2008 1st round (No. 20)
Talib contract: signed thru 2019
Talib is on injured reserve and might never play for the Dolphins. He was most likely finished with the Rams as well. Why make the trade?

Los Angeles dumped $4.5 million in salary and created the same amount of cap space, which could be used this season or carried over into 2020. If the Rams are determined to recoup a fifth-round pick, they can consider trading down in the draft. As for the Dolphins, they paid a high financial price for a fifth-round pick, but they saved much more than that by trading Tunsil, Fitzpatrick, Stills and running back Kenyan Drake.

“A lot of teams would not pay that much for a fifth-round pick,” an exec said. “But for the owner who is willing to spend it and thinks the pick has value, who cares? This is not Cleveland taking on Brock Osweiler and his $16 million salary in the mistaken belief they could flip him and unload half of it.”

Fans hoping for significant trade action at the deadline had to settle for a strong trading year overall, with a weak finish at the wire. The Talib deal was anticlimactic.

“I’ll be surprised if any of these (in-season) moves tip the scales of the season,” an exec said. “Ramsey is the only one talented enough to have that kind of impact, but in my opinion, his team is flawed enough in other places, it’s hard to see him mattering that much (this year).”