3 reasons the Commanders should avoid Jalen Ramsey trade

Jalen Ramsey would cost the Commanders

No one knows at this point what it would cost to pry Jalen Ramsey away from the Los Angeles Rams. The fact that their interest in trading him has gone viral might reduce leverage in any prospective trade. But that is countered by the fact that a lot of teams will be kicking the tires on such a deal.

I did a quick survey among the team sites and beat reporters I tend to follow, and I came up with eight teams that might logically make a run at Ramsey. By the way, the Washington Commanders were not one of them.

Tim Cream, at Sportscasting.com, makes a pretty good argument for why the Cincinnati Bengals make the most sense. Jeff Risdon, at LionsWire.com, is equally convincing about the Detroit Lions’ prospects for landing Ramsey.

Plenty of other teams – the Minnesota Vikings, Las Vegas Raiders, New England Patriots, or Seattle Seahawks – may jump in.

Even the New York Jets, if they fail to land Aaron Rodgers or Lamar Jackson, might decide to make a splash by pairing Ramsey with rookie sensation Sauce Gardner. Potentially creating the best cornerback tandem this century.

The bottom line is that there could very likely be a bidding war, and that would drive the Rams’ asking price up and up. They will not get the two firsts and one-fourth that they sacrificed to the Jacksonville Jaguars to acquire Ramsey in 2019, but I think when the dust settles, they will get something a lot closer to that haul than some analysts are currently projecting.

If Ramsey’s price tag reaches a first-round pick and something else of value – a promising player or a Day 2 draft pick – I think that prices the Washington Commanders out of the running.

It’s simply too much to give up for a cornerback who will turn 29 years old during the 2023 season. Washington has to stay committed to building through the draft. That is how virtually every team that has achieved long-term NFL success has thrived.