Dolphins trade Jalen Ramsey to Steelers, leaving massive void in Rams’ secondary
Few things seemed as certain late into this offseason as the Los Angeles Rams reuniting with Jalen Ramsey. Instead, the Miami Dolphins sent the veteran corner to the Pittsburgh Steelers in mostly an exchange of players.
According to reports, the Rams were in the mix along with the Steelers; however, they ultimately miss out. This leaves a void in LA’s secondary, which is one of the biggest concerns with their roster heading into the 2025 season.
A failure to address corner
It’s clear the Rams did not prioritize addressing nor upgrading the corner position this offseason. They sat on the sidelines during free agency while DJ Reed, Byron Murphy, Charvarius Ward, and Jaire Alexander signed elsewhere. LA had a chance at Ole Miss’ Trey Amos and Michigan’s Will Johnson during the second round of the draft, but instead opted for a luxury pick at tight end with Terrance Ferguson.
Los Angeles didn’t have a Minkah Fitzpatrick to send back to the Dolphins in a Ramsey trade. It’s one thing to push your chips to the middle of the table by sending away future draft capital, and it’s even more risky to trade away key pieces amidst a Super Bowl window. If Miami’s asking price was a player that could help them in 2025, it makes sense why the Rams stayed committed to their original plan of not investing in the secondary.
Quantity over quality
It’s not unreasonable to think that the Rams have four corners who could be trusted to step into the starting lineup: Darious Williams, Cobie Durant, Emmanuel Forbes, and Ahkello Witherspoon. Still, we have to be honest about (1) what Williams and Witherspoon are at the later stages of their careers and (2) that Durant and Forbes are relatively unproven as full-time starters.
LA may have four starting level players. If we are looking at them with clear eyes, they would all rank towards the back end out of 64 starting corners in the NFL.
Sure, this helps insulate against the inevitable attrition and injury risk that will rear its ugly head this season. However, the Rams also run the risk of not maximizing a talented pass rush by being unable to stay sticky in coverage on the backend.
Tackling woes
While he might not be at the height of his powers in terms of coverage, Ramsey has always been among the best tackling corners in the NFL. He would have been a welcome addition to the Rams in this department.
Instead, LA is left with four players who are mostly slight of frame (Witherspoon excluded) and who struggle at times to bring down ball carriers (Witherspoon included).
Of 128 corners to play at least 242 defensive snaps last year, these are how Williams, Witherspoon, and Durant ranked in Pro Football Focus (PFF)’s tackling metrics:
Williams: 76th; 14.0% missed tackle rate
Witherspoon: 73rd; 15.0% missed tackle rate
Durant: 116th; 17.6% missed tackle rate
Challenges at safety
The Rams issues in the secondary are not limited to corner.
Kamren Curl is a replacement level starter with minimal on-ball production over his career despite a ton of playing time under his belt. You could certainly do a lot better, though you could also do much worse at the position.
While Kamren Kitchens stood out as a rookie and played well down the back stretch, we see sophomore slumps in the NFL all the time. We often assume growth is linear. That’s simply not a fair expectation.
Quentin Lake may be better suited to play in the slot. He might need to. LA doesn’t have many alternatives here, though Ramsey could have stepped in and manned this position in a positive way.