3 reasons the Commanders should avoid Jalen Ramsey trade

Commanders are not ready to contend

Of course, many teams do roll the dice on a big-name acquisition and it does pay off. That’s what the Los Angeles Rams did when they acquired Jalen Ramsey, along with the subsequent acquisitions of Matthew Stafford and Von Miller.

It resulted in a Super Bowl. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers also did it with Tom Brady and hoisted the Vince Lombardi Trophy.

One of the main reasons successful teams do not frivolously trade away draft picks is so that when they are close, the assets to acquire those missing one or two pieces to put them into Super Bowl contention are there.

If the Washington Commanders were one or two pieces away from the Super Bowl, spending big on Jalen Ramsey would make a lot of sense. Unfortunately, they are not.

First and foremost, everyone realizes that the Commanders need to resolve their quarterback situation. If Sam Howell, turns out to be legit, that would move them very close to the doorstep of a championship. But that’s a big “if” right now.

The Commanders have major deficiencies at tight end, linebacker, and especially on the offensive line – in addition to the need at cornerback. Trading for Ramsey at the price I think he will command does not solve any of these other problems. In fact, it makes fixing them a lot more difficult.

Not only does it deprive the team of premium draft picks. But it also hamstrings them in terms of salary-cap space, at least for the coming year.

Ramsey’s hefty price tag is actually not as cumbersome as it could be. Washington would be able to walk away with minimal damage if his play falls off in the coming years. But in the same way that Carson Wentz’s contract hindered the Commanders’ free agent moves last off-season, the cornerback’s current deal would make other significant moves difficult in 2023.

This assumes that Ramsey does not renegotiate his deal with his new team, which is not a given by any means.

Teams that successfully spend big on a player like Ramsey fall into one of two categories. Either they have a talented roster and just need a quarterback (Brady, Stafford), or they already have the quarterback and need to add a splash playmaker to put them over as the Philadelphia Eagles did with A.J. Brown.

Washington, as of now, is not in either category.