The Los Angeles Rams approached the 2025 NFL Draft with a roster already built for another playoff run. So, they traded out of the first round and added depth at several positions.
But if there was a position of need for the Rams, it was cornerback — a position Los Angeles did not address over the weekend. The Rams re-signed cornerback Ahkello Witherspoon in the offseason but did not add an outside free agent.
Darious Williams is entering the second year of a three-year contract he signed in 2024 but does not have any guaranteed money left after this season. Cobie Durant and Derion Kendrick are playing on the final year of their rookie deals and Witherspoon signed a one-year contract during free agency to return to Los Angeles.
The Rams do also have 2023 first-round pick Emmanuel Forbes Jr. on the roster after he was released by the Washington Commanders in December and claimed by Los Angeles. He played significant snaps in the Rams’ regular season finale when they rested their starters but did not play in either playoff game.
With the draft over, there might be a move that brings a familiar face back to Los Angeles: cornerback Jalen Ramsey. The Rams traded for Ramsey in 2019 and he was a key part of the 2021 team that won Super Bowl LVI. Los Angeles then traded him to the Miami Dolphins in March 2023 as they tried to clear salary cap space from what was a top-heavy roster.
A season after that trade — the Rams received a third-round pick and tight end Hunter Long in the trade — Ramsey signed a three-year extension with Miami that made him the highest-paid cornerback in NFL history, at the time.
In April, Dolphins general manager Chris Grier told reporters that the team was trying to trade Ramsey because doing so gives Miami the “best chance to help us win not only just this year, but in the future as well.”
Before the draft, Rams general manager Les Snead said he had spoken to Miami about a possible trade, but that the sides had agreed to wait until after the draft. Rams head coach Sean McVay said “there are a lot of layers that would need to be worked out with a player of his magnitude and some of the different things that accompany that, but you would never eliminate the possibility of adding a total stud and a guy that can do a lot of different things.”
“He’s a great player,” McVay said. “We know him very well. We know him intimately.”
While the Rams traded Ramsey in an effort to clear up cap space instead of eventually being the team to make him the highest paid cornerback at the time, they have gotten their salary cap to perhaps the best spot it has been in years. According to Over the Cap, the Rams have $17.7 million of cap space. Ramsey has a $16.67 million cap in 2025, but that is the last year on the contract with guaranteed money.
The Dolphins could pay some of Ramsey’s salary as part of the trade, or Ramsey and the Rams could agree to an adjusted contract to make his cap hit easier to absorb.
Ramsey’s $16.7 million cap hit in 2025 currently ranks sixth among cornerbacks, trailing Jaire Alexander (Packers), Denzel Ward (Browns), L’Jarius Sneed (Titans), Jaylon Johnson (Bears), and Marshon Lattimore (Commanders).
Last season, Ramsey, who turned 30 in October, played in all 17 games for Miami, finishing with two interceptions, seven pass breakups allowing three touchdowns as the nearest defender, according to NFL Next Gen Stats. Among 59 cornerbacks with at least 50 coverage snaps, Ramsey ranked 32nd in passer rating allowed (89.8) when targeted as the nearest defender and 43rd in completion percentage allowed (65.7%) when targeted as the nearest defender.
While the Rams’ secondary improved as the season went on — and after the team’s 1-4 start — Los Angeles’ pass defense still ended the season ranked 25th in DVOA.
On Saturday afternoon, McVay said the team is still going through the draft process, but reiterated the “tremendous amount of appreciation” the team has for Ramsey.
“He and I have really stayed in touch,” McVay said. “I know it’s the same thing with [assistant head coach] Aubrey [Pleasant] and some of our other coaches.
“There’s a lot of familiarity, but we’re probably in the same position when we talked about it the other day just because there are some things that we still need to take care of to be able to truly get through the draft from the totality of it all.”
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