Weaver Preparing for Life Without Ramsey

Anthony Weaver likely will be without his most talented player when he embarks on his second season as Miami Dolphins defensive coordinator, but he made clear Wednesday he's not sweating the imminent departure of Jalen Ramsey.

Nothing has changed since news broke that the Dolphins and Ramsey had mutually decided to explore trade possibilities, and the expectation remains that a deal will be consummated shortly after May turns into June.

Weaver said a media session with Dolphins coordinators and assistant coaches he wasn't going to spend time worrying about how his defense is going to look without Ramsey.

“Yeah, I'm fine with that, right?" Weaver said. "That's the league. The one thing I know whether it's through injury during the season or what's happening here with us with Jalen, I'm not getting any sympathy cards from anybody, right? It's my job and our job collectively as a staff to find a way to make these pieces work. And what I know is every player that is here is trying to get better and they've bought in, so just really pleased with where we're at at this point.”

Ramsey joined the Dolphins in a trade with the Los Angeles Rams in March 2023 and earned a Pro Bowl invitation that season despite missing the first half with a knee injury. He may not have been as impactful in 2024, though his performance still was good.

And given his credentials and versatility in the secondary, there probably wasn't a more important player on defense.

Regardless, Weaver said he wasn't fazed when he heard about the idea of Ramsey leaving the team.

“Yeah, I gotta be honest, I've been in this league too long that anything I hear at this point, like I have very little reaction to it other than COVID," Weaver said. "That one I had a little bit of a reaction to. But this game, things change by the day, right? And I have a tremendous amount of respect for Ramsey. He played very good ball for us, but relationships are hard, right? He's chosen to go other ways and I respect and I wish him nothing but the best moving forward.”

Ramsey's departure will leave the Dolphins with some major question marks at cornerback with a group featuring fourth-year slot specialist Kader Kohou along with veteran journeymen Artie Burns and Kendall Sheffield and a lot of young unproven players.

Weaver is undeterred in his belief the group will deliver.

"To this point, all I've seen is a bunch of guys who are competitive, are tough, and are just hungry to get better," he said. "And usually when you have that combination with good coaching, you're gonna find a way to make it work. Ultimately, the cream will rise to the top, but I have ultimate faith in all the guys in that corner room right now who are gonna go out there and play for us."

POTENTIAL RAMSEY TIMELINE

The Dolphins currently have a little about $8.9 million of effective cap space (includes space needed for draft class) and their 2025 cap clearly would benefit for any Ramsey trade occurring after June 1.

Under that scenario, the Dolphins would have to count $6.7 million for Ramsey, as opposed to more than $25 million if they traded him before June 1 (though $18.4 million would go against the 2026 cap).

Dolphins GM Chris Grier said there were discussions with other teams throughout draft weekend about a Ramsey, but obviously nothing came to fruition.

Grier said the Dolphins wouldn't necessarily wait until after June 1 to consummate a deal even if that would make the cap hit less painful, emphasizing he doesn't know when the right opportunity will surface.

Head coach Mike McDaniel, meanwhile, was asked point blank about how he would describe his relationship with Ramsey, which has been reported to be problematic, and he sidestepped the question saying there was no purpose in talking about it and taking away attention from the draft picks.

RAMSEY'S DRAFT MESSAGE

Ramsey, meanwhile, has not followed up on the Instagram Reel of a rotten orange he posted on draft night that included a message that most definitely could have been interpreted as a personal statement.

"If you surround yourself with people who are okay with mediocre, you too will start to be okay with it. ... surround yourself with people who desire GREATNESS!"

When Grier confirmed reports that the team would explore a trade for Ramsey, he said the issue wasn't the result of Ramsey asking for a salary adjustment, and the Dolphins weren't in a position to ask him to take a pay cut considering his contract is guaranteed for 2025.

So the issue all along figured to involved some sort of personal conflict or perhaps a disagreement over how Ramsey should be used.

WHY TRADING RAMSEY ISN'T SIMPLE

Regardless of whether you want to believe that the Dolphins feel they'll be better off without Ramsey because of non-playing concerns or that Ramsey wants out, the Dolphins are going to try to get the most they can out of a trade partner, which will be looking to pay as little as possible.

Complicating the issue is that Ramsey is in a position because of the extension the Dolphins gave him last summer — one in a series of moves that don't look so good in retrospect — to have a say in his next team.

While Ramsey technically doesn't have a no-trade clause in his contract, no team would want to trade for a player with no desire to play for them. And the Dolphins can't threaten to simply cut Ramsey becuase he's got about $25 million guaranteed next season.

As good a player as Ramsey has been, any team looking into acquiring him recognizes his tremendous set of various skills, his physicality, versatility, football acumen, but also will realize he's on the wrong side of 30, he's expensive and he's high maintenance — he was labeled "disgruntled" by NFL.com after he was traded from Jacksonville to the Los Angeles Rams and now this.

Again, anytime a player of Ramsey's caliber is looking at a third trade in less than five years, something is amiss.

And it's why the Dolphins are going to get nowhere near what the Jaguars got for him from the Rams, which was two first-round picks, and might be lucky to get the equivalent of what they gave the Rams, which was a third-round pick along with a third-year tight end (Hunter Long) who had done little in his first two seasons after being a third-round pick.

COULD RAMSEY RETURN?

The possibility of Ramsey even being on the roster in 2025 was brought up, and Grier didn't dismiss it out of hand, though the reality is that once this kind of story comes out, it's almost past a point of no return.

"Trades come together at all different times," Grier said before the draft. "You've seen from before the draft, day of the draft, during the draft. I think A.J. Brown was during the draft, it happened (when he was traded from Tennessee to Philadelphia). So, you know, when it happens, it'll happen. And if it doesn't, we'll deal with it then.

"Again, this was long discussions, I would say throughout the offseason. So this wasn't anything we rushed to and just said today, let's do this. So we're prepared if he's here, we'll deal with it and if he's not, we'll adjust as well. So we feel good about where it is. It's never easy to replace a player like Jalen. He was a good player for us, he's a good player, he'll probably be a Hall of Famer here. But for the Miami Dolphins going forward, we feel like this is the best chance to help us win, not only just this year, but in the future as well."

Weaver's comments Wednesday certainly didn't sound like there was any chance Ramsey would be back with the Dolphins in 2025.

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