Los Angeles Rams cornerback Jalen Ramsey is reportedly “very likely” to be traded and the Minnesota Vikings should be among the teams interested in a deal.
During the 2022 season, the Minnesota Vikings had one of the worst defenses in the entire NFL. The Vikings will be looking to make a number of changes this year on the defensive side of the ball, and the team making a trade for a big-name star like Los Angeles Rams cornerback Jalen Ramsey isn’t something that should be ruled out.
On Friday, it was revealed that multiple people around the league believe that it is “very likely” that the Rams will trade Ramsey to another team this offseason, according to NFL Media’s Tom Peliserro.
Any team that acquires the All-Pro cornerback in a trade this year will have to deal with a cap hit of around $17 million in 2023. That’s not a number that Minnesota can currently afford, but they can easily create enough cap space in the near future to afford a trade for Ramsey at some point this offseason.
Trading for Los Angeles Rams CB Jalen Ramsey would immediately improve the Minnesota Vikings defense
Ramsey might be a pricey player to acquire, but he’s well worth it. Since entering the NFL in 2016 with the Jacksonville Jaguars, he’s earned three First-Team All-Pro selections, and he’s been voted to the Pro Bowl six times.
He’s currently 28-years-old, so he should have at least a handful of high-level football left in him. Ramsey wasn’t a First-Team All-Pro in 2022, but he was graded as the third-best cornerback in the NFL by PFF.
In their new defensive scheme under Brian Flores, the Vikings are going to need cornerbacks that can survive out on their own in coverage without safety help. Ramsey is one of the best shutdown cornerbacks in NFL history, so that would seem to qualify him as a good fit for Flores’ defense.
Minnesota head coach Kevin O’Connell is also very familiar with Ramsey’s abilities as the two were both part of the Rams for two seasons, including the team’s Super Bowl run in 2021.
Will O’Connell urge the Vikings’ front office to do whatever they can to trade for Ramsey this offseason? It certainly wouldn’t hurt for Minnesota’s head coach to give his old team a call and see what it would take to acquire the All-Pro cornerback.