Howie Roseman was right to pass on Jalen Ramsey

Sometimes, the best trades are the ones the Philadelphia Eagles didn’t do.

Last fall, the Philadelphia Eagles had an opportunity to trade for one of the best players in the NFL who just so happens to play their biggest position of need.

Would it have been a costly acquisition? Most certainly, but how often does a 25-year-old All-Pro become available on a rookie-scale contract? Jalen Ramsey is probably the best pure man cornerback in the NFL and may continue to be for the remainder of the Eagles’ championship window.

Needless to say, Howie Roseman’s decision to pass on Ramsey was a divisive one, but ultimately, it was the right call.

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Wait, what?

Well sure, one could make a pretty compelling argument that Ramsey on the Eagles last fall could have been the difference between a 9-7 record and an easy walk into the playoffs as the NFC East champions. Two of the Eagles’ final three losses came by a touchdown or less and Ramsey’s man-press ability all could have helped to shut out players like DeVante Parker, Julian Edelman, and D.K. Metcalf down the stretch.

Would Ramsey have really done that much of a better job than, say, Chris Harris, Aqib Talib, or the player the team eventually acquired in March of 2020, Darius Slay? Maybe yes, maybe no, but the differences become all the more negligible when one considers just how much more it would have cost to get Ramsey under contact.

Despite every single person in the NFL knowing Ramsay was unhappy with this situation, the Jacksonville Jaguars were able to secure a king’s ransom for his services from the star hungry Los Angeles Rams, racking up two 2020 first-round picks and a 2021 fourth-rounder for the 25-year-old’s services.

Even with cornerback being one of the most important positions on any given team, that’s a lot of value to give up for a single player, even one as good as Ramsey.

Just for context, Howie Roseman only had to give up a 2020 third and fifth-round pick to acquire Slay from the Lions six months later. While Ramsay is a full four years younger, two players are virtually identical now and should continue to play roughly the same bubble for the next few seasons.

Who would you rather have; Slay, Jalan Reagor, next year’s first-round pick, and next year’s fourth-round pick, or Jamsey, no first-rounder in 2021 and a mid-third round player like Julian Blackmon, the player the 85th overall pick was eventually used to acquire? Factor in the sure to be massive contract extension Ramsey is in line for after this season – Or worse, having to let him walk in free agency for nothing due to cap issues – and it’s almost impossible to argue that the Eagles would have been better off had they made some variation of this trade last fall.

In the NFL maybe more so than any other professional sports league, star power is much less important than fielding a competent roster across-the-board. While Jalen Ramsey all but certainly would have solved the Philadelphia Eagles’ desperate search for a genuine, grade-A lockdown cornerback, his presence would have severely limited the team’s ability to get better with cheap ascending assets in the draft and further limit their ability to retain and sign players in free agency to build a better unit around the dominant DB. For my, and Howie Roseman’s money, sometimes it’s the deals you don’t make that truly make the biggest difference.