Steelers Rumors: Could a trade be brewing for Jalen Ramsey?

As of right now, it's been confirmed that the Los Angeles Rams are indeed putting star cornerback Jalen Ramsey on the trading block this offseason. It shouldn't come as a shocker due to the hefty salary cap hit that'll affect the Rams if he's still on the roster for the upcoming season. Could a trade be brewing for the Steelers to land one of the top cornerbacks in the NFL?

In the grand scheme of things, no. The Steelers are also dealing with a very tight salary cap at the moment and will need to make some tough decisions this offseason to have some room to work with in free agency and the 2023 NFL Draft. While it would be great to have Ramsey in the defensive backfield of the Steelers, it's just not financially reasonable at all even if they tried to do everything possible to trade for him.

Even if Ramsey is to be traded, whichever team lands him would have to redo his contract regardless which means even more money to invest and hope everything works out. Yes, Ramsey is coming off yet another brilliant season and will want to get paid but the Steelers just won't have that kind of money over the next few years to make a trade happen.

Despite rumors, the Steelers simply can't afford Jalen Ramsey

The only issue is that the Steelers simply wouldn't be able to afford trading for him and then having to restructure his contract to make it worth it for both sides. Make no mistake about it, Ramsey will want to get his big payday, and rightfully so. He's been to eight straight Pro Bowls and still has a lot of great football left in him as he enters some of the prime years of his solid career at just 28 years old.

Ramsey is coming off a season with the Rams in which he totaled 88 tackles, four interceptions, two forced fumbles, and 18 passes defended. While that in itself would be a huge addition to the Steelers' defensive backfield, they just can't afford him at all no matter which way you slice it.

Hopefully, the Steelers either find a more affordable free agent option if that's the route they want to address or wait until this year's draft to draft the best available cornerback when they're on the clock. Either way, any rumors that the Steelers might consider trading for Ramsey are just that, rumors. It's just realistically and unfortunately, not financially possible.

No matter what you read elsewhere on the internet about any kind of rumors between the Steelers, Rams, and Ramsey trying to come up with a trade, take it with a grain of salt. The truth of the matter is, Ramsey is an incredible cornerback and at that comes being a hefty price tag for any team that is interested in trading for his services.

The Steelers can't afford Ramsey at all and even if by some miracle they figured out a way to make it happen, they would be neglecting other major areas to address at linebacker, offensive line, defensive line, and edge rusher. It's not worth investing that much money into a player for a team that is still rebuilding and quite honestly, about two, maybe even three years away from being legitimate contenders again.