MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. (AP) — Dolphins cornerback Jalen Ramsey describes Los Angeles as a second home for him.
He has family from there. His daughter was born there. And that's the place where he traces some of the best memories of his football career.
“At a time when I stopped liking football as much, then I got traded to LA, it just drastically changed everything for me," Ramsey said Saturday. "It’s amazing, just my whole LA experience. I literally have nothing bad to say about LA or my time in LA at all.”
The All-Pro cornerback will return to Los Angeles when the Dolphins play the Rams on Monday. It'll be Ramsey's first time facing the team he won a Super Bowl with during the 2021 season.
Ramsey, who the Rams traded to Miami ahead of the 2023 season, said he certainly won't make the game about himself, especially with it being a must-win in many Dolphins players' minds. Miami (2-6) is trying to put an end to a three-game skid and is coming off two losses by walk-off field goals.
“I’ll take the moment in to see some of my former teammates,” Ramsey said, “a lot of guys who I still talk to who hit me up this week. I haven’t responded to them. I’ll take a moment to say hello to all the supporting staff that was in LA, who I built a lot of great relationships with, the training staff, the equipment staff. But I'm going to keep the main thing, the main thing."
The Rams acquired Ramsey in the middle of the 2019 season after his relationship with the Jacksonville Jaguars, who drafted him fifth overall in 2016, had frayed. He requested a trade after spending the first four years of his career in Jacksonville.
The six-time Pro Bowl selection had 77 tackles, four interceptions and a career-high nine tackles for loss during the Rams’ Super Bowl-winning season. He was a first-team All-Pro that season despite playing with sprained AC joints in both shoulders.
“It was definitely torture,” Ramsey said. “Every week I was working to get my body back to a set base. Then during the game, (I was) tearing it down again and then trying to build it up to a set spot for the next game, and then tearing it down again. It was tough but we had a great team. We had great coaches, was able to prepare well, was able to practice well. You'll do that if you love this game, which I do, so it was all good.”
Ramsey had a career-high 88 tackles in 2022 before being shipped to Miami in a franchise reboot. The Rams didn't necessarily want to lose Ramsey, or wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr., who had a touchdown catch in the Super Bowl but tore his ACL in the game. But after years of bringing in big-name players and their hefty contracts, Los Angeles parted with the two stars to build toward the future.
“You just knew that ... I don’t want to say the clock struck midnight, but the core, that team, that senior class, it just doesn’t last forever,” said Rams general manager Les Snead.
Ramsey has since been a cornerstone for the Dolphins defense, which has utilized him in a mix of coverages all over the field. He has 29 tackles, four passes defensed and an interception for Miami's fourth-ranked pass defense.
He's allowing just 10.9 yards per completion with five pressures on eight blitzes.
“One of his superpowers is that he has so much skill set in a unique body,” said Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel. "So he is exposed to a lot of football. He knows a ton about different techniques and fundamentals of defensive players, but also he's got a strong opinion on offensive players, for sure — what they’re good at and what they’re vulnerable to.”
McDaniel, defensive coordinator Anthony Weaver and many of Ramsey's teammates often say he has a high football IQ. Ramsey said that's just a product of his love for football.
“Everything I do in terms of preparation, in terms of learning more about the game, studying the game," he said, "it all just stems from me being obsessed with it.”
Notes
Starting right tackle Austin Jackson has a knee injury and will not play on Monday. Kendall Lamm will likely replace him.
WR Tyreek Hill is managing a wrist injury, but is “doing everything possible to play," McDaniel said. Hill did not practice Friday or Saturday and is listed as questionable.
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AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl
Alanis Thames, The Associated Press
