Last September, the Dolphins rushed to give cornerback Jalen Ramsey a contract with a new-money average of $24.1 million, days after the Broncos made cornerback Patrick Surtain II the highest-paid cornerback with a new-money average of $24 million.
Fewer than eight months later, the Dolphins are looking to trade Ramsey.
Which means they never should have given him his latest contract.
A trade will have significant consequences. Based on the terms of his contract from last year — and the existing proration from the prior deal — a trade before June 1 will trigger a $25.213 million dead-money charge. After June 1, a trade would split the dead money into $6.745 million in 2025 and $18.468 million in 2026.
Ramsey has already received a $4 million roster bonus on March 16. The best time to trade him would have been before that bill came due.
Ramsey also has a fully-guaranteed option bonus for 2025, in the amount of $18.98 million. The new team would be on the hook for that payment, along with a fully-guaranteed base salary for 2025 of $1.255 million. That’s $20.153 million for a 31-year-old cornerback whose best days are in the rear-view mirror.
It makes for a tough sell. The Dolphins may have to pay some of that $20.153 million to make a trade happen.
They’re going to pay it anyway, thanks to a contract that seemed like a stretch at the time and that now can fairly be called ill-advised.
