AP sources: Rams trading All-Pro Ramsey to Miami
The Miami Dolphins are acquiring All-Pro cornerback Jalen Ramsey in a trade with the Los Angeles Rams, two people with knowledge of the deal told The Associated Press on Sunday.
The Rams will get Miami’s third-round pick in the 2023 NFL draft and tight end Hunter Long, according to the people, who spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because neither team had announced the deal.
Shortly after news of the trade broke, Ramsey indicated on social media that Miami was his preferred destination.
“I prayed for this specifically for about a month & now it’s happening! @MiamiDolphins LETSGO!” Ramsey tweeted Sunday.
The Rams went 5-12 last season and missed the playoffs just one year after winning the Super Bowl, and they’ve have been making changes to their roster this offseason. Los Angeles parted ways with veteran linebacker Bobby Wagner last month after one season.
The Rams traded for Ramsey in the middle of the 2019 season after he spent the first four years of his career in Jacksonville. Ramsey, a six-time Pro Bowl selection, had 77 tackles and four interceptions during the Rams’ Super Bowl-winning 2021 season. Last season, he had a career-high 88 tackles and four interceptions.
Ramsey is expected to play alongside Miami’s Pro Bowl cornerback Xavien Howard, who had 45 tackles and an interception in 2022.
■ COMMANDERS: The Washington Commanders are keeping Daron Payne around, thanks to the second-biggest contract for a defensive tackle behind only seven-time All-Pro Aaron Donald.
The Commanders agreed to terms with Payne on a four-year contract worth $90 million, with $60 million guaranteed, according to a person with knowledge of the deal. The person spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity Sunday because the contract had not been announced.
Donald signed a contract last year with the Los Angeles Rams that paid him $95 million, with $65 million guaranteed.
Payne led Washington with a career-high 11 1/2 sacks last season. The Commanders put the franchise tag worth $18.9 million on him last month in the hopes of working out a long-term agreement.
The deal was first reported by ESPN.
■ VIKINGS: Bud Grant, the stoic and demanding Hall of Fame coach who took the Minnesota Vikings and their mighty Purple People Eaters defense to four Super Bowls in eight years and lost all of them, died Saturday. He was 95.
The Vikings announced Grant’s death on social media.
“No single individual more defined the Minnesota Vikings than Bud Grant. A once-in-a-lifetime man, Bud will forever be synonymous with success, toughness, the North and the Vikings,” owners Zygi Wilf and Mark Wilf said in a joint statement distributed by the team. “In short, he was the Vikings.”
Grant guided the Vikings from 1967-85, with a oneyear hiatus in 1984, on his way to a 158-96-5 record with 11 division championships in 18 seasons. He went 10-12 in the playoffs. When he retired, Grant was eighth on the NFL’s all-time victory list.
“There are so many adjectives appropriate to describe Coach Bud Grant: legendary, determined, successful. Underneath his outwardly stoic demeanor that some misunderstood as a coldness laid the warm heart of a man who truly loved his players and the sport of football,” Pro Football Hall of Fame president Jim Porter said.
Grant was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1994.