When the Rams traded cornerback Marcus Peters to the Ravens, the Rams didn’t have an agreement in principle to acquire cornerback Jalen Ramsey from the Jaguars. After the Peters deal was done, the Rams made their move.
Per a league source, the Rams increased their pursuit of Ramsey late Tuesday afternoon, after trading Peters. Before that, roughly six teams had serious interest in Ramsey, and those teams had been checking in periodically with the Jaguars. The Rams knew what it was going to take to get Ramsey, and they moved quickly to get it done.
The Jaguars were serious about keeping Ramsey, and they would have unless they had gotten what they wanted. The Rams stepped up with two first-round picks and a fourth-round pick, and the Jaguars were able to trade him out of the AFC.
Surely aiding the process was the relationship between Jaguars G.M. Dave Caldwell and Rams G.M. Les Snead. They worked together in Atlanta before getting the jobs they now hold.
Boosting the Rams’ willingness to make the deal without a long-term contract in place for Ramsey likely was the reality that, after trading Peters, the Rams needed to get the Ramsey deal done before one of the other five teams or so realized what the Rams were in the process of trying to accomplish, and potentially mobilized to beat them to the punch.