Is Jalen Ramsey the right gamble for Chargers to raise the stakes in the AFC West arms race?
The Los Angeles Chargers are part of a fierce arms race in the AFC West. Now, they've been attached to a report indicating they may be a candidate to make a major splash ahead of 2025. The Kansas City Chiefs are, well, the Kansas City Chiefs. The Denver Broncos have been aggressive with their offseason […]
The Los Angeles Chargers are part of a fierce arms race in the AFC West. Now, they've been attached to a report indicating they may be a candidate to make a major splash ahead of 2025.
The Kansas City Chiefs are, well, the Kansas City Chiefs. The Denver Broncos have been aggressive with their offseason approach. Las Vegas remodeled its nucleus, trading for QB Geno Smith and hiring Pete Carroll to be the culture setter for the Raiders. The Chargers had a sturdy offseason of their own — they added more physical talent on both sides of the ball to help bolster their outlook in Jim Harbaugh's second season with the team.
With Derwin James prowling the back end of Jesse Minter's defense, the Chargers have one of the best overall playmakers in the game at safety. And, if ESPN's Adam Schefter is to be believed, they may be in a position to add another impact defender on the back end courtesy of Miami Dolphins cornerback Jalen Ramsey. If Ramsey is interested, the Chargers owe it to themselves to do some due diligence on what that could look like.
Would a splash addition like Ramsey make sense?
Chargers included on Jalen Ramsey's preferred destination list?
"The Dolphins continue to have conversations about trading Jalen Ramsey. I think that a trade there will get done, the question is when does it get done? Does it get done next week, the week after, prior to the starting of training camp — I don't know exactly when it's going to be but Jalen Ramsey will get traded. It will be, I expect, before the start of training camp. We'll see how it shakes out, where he goes. I think he would like to go to the west coast, to Los Angeles…Rams, Chargers, somewhere like that."
– ESPN's Adam Schefter
Let's start with the obvious. The language here from Schefter is important and the focus of the Chargers' inclusion here is rooted in where Ramsey would like to go. So, for all we know, the Chargers could make a general inquiry or, potentially, not even be engaged in any ongoing conversations. Ramsey hasn't been shy about his west coast affiliation after all, he has been posted up in California this offseason working out to stay ready for the season after bypassing the Dolphins' offseason program. It makes sense for Ramsey to want to be back there after his time with the Rams.
This may be a one-sided flirtation — but it shouldn't be. No, the Chargers don't have a whopping surplus of salary cap space, nor do they have extra draft capital to weaponize as a part of any negotiations with the Dolphins. But the Chargers have momentum as a franchise, the room for an upgrade at corner amid all of their young talent at the position, and the chance to parlay both Ramsey and Derwin James together and reunite the former Florida State teammates in 2025.
With Ramsey's size at corner and the ability to play both outside and inside, he'd be a terror to pair with James' mobility within the back seven. As the Chargers look to attack the middle of the field with their coverages, these two playing together can axe a lot of progressions by overlapping or complementing one another in space.
Ramsey collected experience in a branch of the same defensive coaching tree this past season with Anthony Weaver, as well. Weaver and Minter both have roots under Wink Martindale, who served as the Ravens defensive coordinator from 2018-2021. It's an exciting proposition. One that the Chargers, amid their push to make the leap under Harbaugh, should strongly consider.
The cost will likely be a healthy portion of Ramsey's 2025 remaining compensation and a conditional draft choice that should probably start as a mid-round draft choice at worst. That, for a Chargers team with sky high ambitions and a former teammate to jazz Ramsey up about playing back in Los Angeles, feels like a worthy cost to accept if it means getting another force multiplier into their secondary to play off of James.
Mike McDaniel is as tired of the Jalen Ramsey saga as the rest of us, but it may give the 2025 Miami Dolphins something they desperately need
Miami Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel is, typically, pretty free-flowing with his responses at the podium. McDaniel has joked in the past about his long-winded nature during media availabilities, which isn’t necessarily always the worst thing for the media in attendance. They’re usually given something to work with when it comes to responses to their […]
