Jalen Ramsey’s new Dolphins contract may have been a major miscalculation

In the NFL market Top cornerbacks' salaries are relatively low Considering his importance, Jalen Ramsey remains a very rich man. After signing a three-year, $72.3 million extension with the Miami Dolphins on Sept. 6, Ramsey will make an average annual salary (at least contractually) of $24.1 million, just slightly more than Denver Broncos guard Patrick Surtain II, who signed a four-year, $86 million extension a few days earlier. Surtain II was making $24 million a year.

Ramsey was the No. 5 overall pick out of Florida State (Jacksonville Jaguars) in 2016 and signed a five-year, $100 million contract with the Los Angeles Rams in 2020, making him the richest cornerback in the game for the second time in his 10-year career.

“I wouldn't say I reset it again. P2 [Surtain] “And now I've reached the standard that they were aiming for and I'm the highest-paid defensive back again. So it's all a blessing, but either way I'm blessed. I wake up every day and I have my beautiful kids and my family and the support and love from my teammates and I'm just blessed in every way. I think it's amazing. It's a great accomplishment not just for myself but for my support system. Everyone that I've worked with, obviously my agent, David Mulugeta and everything he's done this past year. I think it's a great moment for everyone involved.”

It was a cool moment at the time, but Ramsey's on-field play has been problematic through the first two games of the 2024 season. Before we get into the details, it should be said that the hamstring injury Ramsey has had throughout the preseason could be an issue, but the metrics and video should be cause for concern.

Through two games in the 2024 season, Ramsey has allowed two catches on two targets for 40 yards, no touchdowns, no interceptions and an opponent passer rating of 118.8. As we'll see, those numbers could easily be worse. He has four missed tackles and just two solo tackles. And the video shows various examples of Ramsey being out of sync with the defense new defensive coordinator Anthony Weaver has put on the field.

Perhaps the most notable deep pass Ramsey has allowed this season came in last Thursday night's 31-10 loss to the Buffalo Bills. With 7:11 left in the first half and third down and 12 at Miami's 34-yard line, running back Ty Johnson ran a deep rail route along the right boundary line. Ramsey was on his toes rather than getting closer to the target, perhaps to avoid allowing a big play downfield, and that's exactly what happened. The 33-yard gain put the Bills up 17-7 one play later on James Cook's 1-yard run.

Then in Week 1 against the Jaguars, Ramsey allowed a 40-yard pass from Trevor Lawrence to rookie receiver Brian Thomas Jr. Ramsey was caught for pass interference on the play, which kept Thomas from getting into the end zone, so the play may have disappeared from Ramsey's stat sheet, but the video shows he had some trouble syncing up with the speed receiver, and if Lawrence could have slowed Thomas down to get the pass through, that might have saved the Dolphins here.

The most surprising thing about those two deep passes is that they both landed on Miami's 1-yard line, meaning Ramsey is just two yards away from leading the league in touchdowns allowed on passes of 20+ yards. Penalties didn't count toward pass completions allowed, but given the structure of the play, they did. Ramsey was betting that a penalty would be a better option than a touchdown allowed.

The Dolphins are obviously hopeful that this is all due to a hamstring injury and that it will all get better with time, but when you watch Ramsey's 2023 tape, there were too many instances where Ramsey allowed tight-window passes to good-to-great receivers, including an 8-yard touchdown to the Dallas Cowboys' Brandin Cooks in Week 16. Ramsey couldn't quite convert that touchdown.

And in Week 11 against the Las Vegas Raiders' Davante Adams, Ramsey got extremely lucky because Adams totally cornered Ramsey on that awful stutter-go.

So… it may not be the hamstring.

Ramsey's best plays have often come when he uses his football acumen and ability to read the quarterback to get the ball. This happened twice against the same Raiders who put him through hell with Davante Adams' moves and he was intercepted twice during the game. What makes Ramsey a threat at this point is what's above the neck.

“Everybody knows him. Whenever a guy comes on your team and everybody knows his name and that name is based on his reputation for talent and skill, everybody gets excited,” Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel said of Ramsey on the day he signed his contract. “I don't fully know who I am. I think I do, but it's always fun to see how that guy fits into the overall situation. Since he got here, it felt like there was a mutual sense of purpose in that Jalen saw and grabbed another level of player and leader that would benefit this team.”

That cannot and should not be denied. This is not about Jalen Ramsey's value to the Dolphins. By itself Especially if you're talking about intangibles. The people in the building should know better about that. This is about whether a given contract is the right move now and into the future.

It's clear that in the right situation, Jalen Ramsey can still be a good defender in the NFL — his ability in press coverage and as an overhanging defender makes him valuable — but is he valuable enough to set up a positional market for the second time in his career? Is he one of the best two or three cornerbacks in the NFL?

This is an especially tough conversation to have with Ramsey turning 30 on Oct. 24, the age at which many cornerbacks either start to decline in their performance at their natural position or the debate is somewhat resolved as they move into an overhang or safety role. Darrell Green, Willie Brown, Ken Reilly.

If what we saw over the first two weeks of the 2024 season and some time in 2023 is any indication of truth, the Dolphins may have been pricing themselves out of the blue.