Stud cornerback Jalen Ramsey is not thrilled with the way the Jacksonville Jaguars have handled contract negotiations, and he has now made it blatantly clear that he will not offer the team any time of discount once his contract is up in 2021.
The question is, should the Jaguars consider trading Ramsey now before ultimately losing him in two years?
Well, the answer is no.
While it might seem natural to want to cash in on Ramsey now while he still has a ton of value, Jacksonville is clearly not thinking about the future and is playing for the now.
Why else would the Jaguars sign 30-year-old Nick Foles, a guy with very minimal track record outside of one magical playoff run, to play quarterback?
Let's remember that this is a Jacksonville squad that is two years removed from playing in an AFC Championship Game. Going into 2018, many felt that the Jags could make a Super Bowl run, but poor quarterback play from Blake Bortles and a horrific offense in general did them in.
But there is no denying that the fabric of what made the Jaguars a Super Bowl contender two years ago is still present, as Jacksonville still has a very good defense, and one would expect bruising running back Leonard Fournette to bounce back after a miserable 2018.
Taking all of that into consideration, the Jaguars are playing to win, so trading Ramsey when he still has two years left on his deal would not be the wisest move for Jacksonville, as it simply would not fit its timeline.
Now, if Ramsey were entering the final year of his contract, this would be a different discussion, but he isn't. The Jaguars can still get two years out of Ramsey if they want to, and who knows? Maybe by the time Ramsey comes up for free agency, things will be different, and the two sides will be more amenable to working things out.
While I'm not personally calling Jacksonville a Super Bowl contender or even a playoff team, it's obvious that the Jags are trying to recapture their magic from 2017, and bringing in Foles rather than going forth with a rebuilding effort is concrete evidence of that.
It's entirely possible that the Jaguars feel they are a good quarterback away from being a very good team again, and while that may not necessarily be true considering that their receiving corps is very thin, their offensive line isn't that great and their ground game remains a huge question mark, Jacksonville has already committed to Foles going forward.
In a deep AFC and a really good AFC South that features two playoff teams from this past year, not to mention a Tennessee Titans squad that went 9-7, it's going to be pretty difficult for the Jaguars to seriously contend.
Still, if Foles has a big year, Fournette rebounds and Jacksonville's defense remains stout, the Jags could surprise some people and possibly end up winning nine or 10 games, which could be enough to get them into the playoffs.
For all of those reasons, the Jaguars should hang on to Ramsey. For now.
If Jacksonville finds itself out of the playoff race by the trade deadline, then maybe it can revisit the idea of dealing away Ramsey, but at this point in time, it would be best just to keep him.
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