Jaguars Made the Best of a Bad Jalen Ramsey Situation
It is finally over. After weeks of speculation, public spats, a nagging back, the flu, podcast appearances and much more, the Jalen Ramsey saga has ended.
After requesting a trade from the Jacksonville Jaguars following the team's Week 2 loss to the Houston Texans, the All-Pro cornerback has at last got what he wanted. He is no longer a Jaguar, and will now take his talents to the Los Angeles Rams.
For Ramsey, he has now had his greatest request fulfilled. He is moving on from a team who he has had a tumultuous relationship with almost since the day he was drafted. He walked into this situation with the goal of leaving Jacksonville, and he got exactly what he was seeking.
At the end of the day Ramsey, the team's 2016 first-round pick, will leave behind a complicated legacy in Jacksonville. On the field he turned in two Pro Bowl seasons in 2017 and 2018 and was a first-team All-Pro in 2017. Simply put, he was a superstar for a franchise who has not had many in its history.
But with Ramsey being dealt for two first-round picks, along with a fourth-round pick in 2021, the Jaguars were able to make the best of a bad situation.
Having to deal an elite player who is arguably the best at his position may not seem like a win on the surface, but consider the facts. Ramsey had not taken a snap for the team since Week 3, citing a back injury he suffered against the Titans. And it was unlikely that he would have played another snap for them regardless of if Tuesday's trade was executed.
The relationship between Jacksonville and its best player was so fractured over the last month that team owner Shad Khan himself had what he described as a "heart-to-heart" last week.
As much as it may sting for fans who thought Ramsey would be in the Jaguars' long-term plans, Ramsey simply did not want to be in Jacksonville anymore. And when this became the case, the best thing the Jaguars could have done was deal him for an appropriate value.
In total, the Jaguars now have 18 picks over the next two drafts in large part because they dealt a player who did not want to play for them. They now have four first-round picks over the next two years, a huge coup considering the circumstances.
With these picks, the Jaguars have the most draft ammo they have ever had in a two-year period. They can continue to build around their young core and fill the several gaping holes on the roster, such as at defensive back, offensive line and wide receiver.
Jacksonville has made questionable draft decisions since Executive Vice President Tom Coughlin took the reins in 2017, but it has also brought in key players in early-, mid- and late-rounds, creating one of the NFL's youngest rosters. The Jaguars have a solid foundation as is, and now they have the potential to strengthen substantially.
In addition, the Jaguars also no longer have to pay Ramsey a massive extension, opening the door for them to extend other deserving players instead such as defensive end Yannick Ngakoue and potentially even running back Leonard Fournette.
Trading your best player is never going to be an ideal situation. But this was far from ideal from the start.
The landscape of the Jaguars has been changed forever. Life after Ramsey is now beginning and the team can charge into the future without the situation looming over its heads and dominating headlines.
The Jalen Ramsey saga was a toxic and dramatic ordeal from the jump. But after a month of holding out until teams got desperate enough, the Jaguars have finally made the best of a bad situation.
