When the Los Angeles Rams acquired Trent McDuffie from the Kansas Metropolis Chiefs earlier this offseason, the transfer instantly felt acquainted. Not simply because the Rams as soon as once more traded premium draft capital for a longtime star, however as a result of the construction of the deal — and the expectations connected to it — mirrored the franchise-altering acquisition of Jalen Ramsey again in 2019.
For practically a decade, Los Angeles has operated in another way than most NFL franchises. Common supervisor Les Snead has repeatedly prioritized confirmed elite expertise over draft uncertainty, notably throughout championship home windows. That aggressive philosophy helped carry Ramsey to Los Angeles from the Jacksonville Jaguars in a blockbuster commerce that finally helped ship a Tremendous Bowl title. Now, the Rams seem to imagine McDuffie can comply with an identical blueprint.
The parallels are tough to disregard. And the timing aligns carefully with the Ramsey period.
Like Ramsey years in the past, McDuffie arrived in Los Angeles as one of many NFL’s premier defensive backs and instantly acquired a market-setting contract extension. Ramsey signed a five-year, $100 million extension shortly after becoming a member of the Rams in 2020, making him the league’s highest-paid defensive again on the time. McDuffie’s new deal reportedly surpassed even that benchmark, as Los Angeles gave him a four-year, $124 million extension value roughly $31 million yearly.
With the way in which McDuffie’s contract is structured, it’s tough to ascertain him enjoying out the whole lot of his contract. It’s the way in which the NFL is and the Rams have kind of developed that status. Signal gamers to large contracts to assist them win at times commerce them away later to recoup some worth; avoiding paying the big chunk of the contract.
Now the Rams determined to restructure Jalen Ramsey’s contract after profitable the Tremendous Bowl, which is why Ramsey’s cap numbers have been so minimal. Maybe that was a technique to persuade Aaron Donald to return. Nobody will argue with the intent of that.
This time round, the Rams could also be slightly extra cautious in how they method a possible restructure scenario with McDuffie down the road. The Rams can financially face up to “getting out” from his contract after simply 2 years. They might want to have that flexibility after which go year-by-year with McDuffie after the 2027 season. By then McDuffie might be 28 years outdated. The Rams parted methods with Ramsey after his age 28 season…
Ramsey has nonetheless been an efficient participant within the league.
In 57 video games (3 1/2 years) with Los Angeles, Ramsey had 242 tackles, 15 tackles for loss, 2 sacks, 10 interceptions, and 47 passes defensed.
In 44 video games (3 years) with the Miami Dolphins and Pittsburgh Steelers, Ramsey has had 170 tackles, 10 tackles for loss, 4 sacks, 6 interceptions, and 24 passes defensed.
There was some drop off however he’s nonetheless a beginning caliber secondary participant within the NFL.
With that being mentioned, simply preserve a perspective that the Rams might function in a similar way with Trent McDuffie transferring ahead. If there’s a small inkling that McDuffie is slowing down, much less bodily, or accidents are cropping up, they are going to in all chance commerce him away to be able to get some worth in return earlier than its too late.
The Rams made an enormous funding buying and selling a primary spherical choose and handing McDuffie a 4 yr extension however they’ve by no means been held captive by the contract length. In the event that they need to pivot, they are going to. And primarily based on the Rams historical past of paying secondary gamers, it’s affordable to suspect that McDuffie’s tenure is comparable in size to Ramsey’s.
Do you assume Trent McDuffie will stick with the Rams for greater than 3.5 years?
