Over the cap and needing to free up some money, the Los Angeles Rams made a blockbuster trade with the Miami Dolphins to ship out Jalen Ramsey.
The Rams had been reportedly shopping Ramsey throughout the offseason and finally struck a deal with the Dolphins, who were his preferred landing spot. In return, Los Angeles received a 2023 third-round pick and tight end Hunter Long.
Long joins a Rams squad that is in flux but still is looking forward to the new opportunity, via Stu Jackson of TheRams.com:
“Definitely, it was a surprise for me, but I’m really excited for it,” Long told theRams.com. “Really excited to join the Rams, really excited to get out there and start working with the coaching staff. Coach (Nick) Caley’s a great tight end coach they just brought in, so I’m really excited to start working with him. But yeah, just excited for the opportunity. It’s a great opportunity for me and excited to take advantage of it.”
The former third-round pick was buried on the depth chart in Miami, so he’s looking forward to showing what he can do in Los Angeles:
“I came into kind of a tricky situation. I came into a tight end room that already had five tight ends, and three established tight ends,” Long said. “As a rookie, my role was with a rookie role and kind of plugged in where I could and do I what could. This last year, I definitely carved out a bigger role for myself. Unfortunately, dealt with some injuries early on, and kind of picked up steam later in the season when I was able to get over those injuries. I was definitely in more of a blocking role this year, but that was not because I can’t run routes and catch the ball, you know? I’m as team-guy as they come, and whatever the team needs to do to win games and help the team be successful, I’m gonna do and do to the best of my ability. So that’s all I was asked to do, and I tried to excel at that, but that’s obviously not my whole game.”
Long should have ample opportunities to make a name for himself with the Rams as he is only really competing with Tyler Higbee for snaps. The Rams could opt to add depth at the position in what is considered to be a strong tight end class, but perhaps Long will prove to be more than just a throw-in a deal.
