The Los Angeles Rams announced that they have agreed to a record-breaking contract extension with star cornerback Jalen Ramsey.
The deal does not come as a surprise, although it did take longer than expected to get done. The Rams traded two first-round picks to acquire Ramsey from the Jacksonville Jaguars in the middle of last season and to this point, he has been everything they hoped he would be and more.
In four NFL seasons, the former No. 5 overall pick has been named to three Pro Bowls and one All-Pro team. He is arguably the best cover cornerback in the league and has the ability to transform a defense along with Aaron Donald in L.A.
Ramsey’s agent, David Mulugheta of President Team Sports, revealed that the five-year extension is worth $105 million total with more than $71 million in guarantees, which is the large contract ever for a cornerback:
— David Mulugheta (@DavidMulugheta) September 9, 2020
Ramsey himself took to social media to celebrate signing his new deal:
To whom this may concern 😂😂😭😭 pic.twitter.com/Jo6cfowiHR
— Jalen Ramsey (@jalenramsey) September 9, 2020
Here is a full breakdown of Ramsey’s contract, per Mike Garafolo of NFL Network:
Ramsey has rolling guarantees, meaning 2022 and 2023 have injury guarantees as of now that convert to full guarantees the year before. So basically this deal is pretty much locked in until 2024. https://t.co/eC2V544Dnl
— Mike Garafolo (@MikeGarafolo) September 10, 2020
When the Rams acquired Ramsey they made it clear that the plan was to lock him up long-term. He also made it clear that he wanted to stay in L.A. The two sides were in communication all offseason, and while it took until now to get it done, they still were able to complete the extension before the Rams take the field in Week 1 this weekend against the Dallas Cowboys.
Now that Ramsey’s contract issue is taken care of, he can completely shift his focus towards the field. He is one of the unquestioned leaders on the Rams defense, and the plan is for him to demonstrate his versatility by moving all around the field in 2020.
As far as the Rams go, they will now shift their focus towards extensions with Cooper Kupp and John Johnson III, with the former potentially signing a deal before the start of the season as well.
