49ers analysis: Why it’s OK Jalen Ramsey got traded to Rams
The 49ers defense should survive fine without cornerback Jalen Ramsey, who got dealt from the Jacksonville Jaguars to the Los Angeles on Tuesday.
No team is allowing fewer passing yards per game than the 49ers.
Mortgaging their future drafts for a cornerback would have been bad business, compounded by an expensive contract extension, which they’ve already done at quarterback (Jimmy Garoppolo) and pass rusher (Dee Ford).
The 49ers (5-0) are more than fine. As for the Los Angeles Rams, who just lost 20-7 at “home” to the 49ers on Sunday, they felt compelled to go for broke, perhaps literally, by trading Tuesday for cornerback Jalen Ramsey.
The Jacksonville Jaguars got what they wanted, a pair of first-round draft picks (each of the next two years) plus a 2021 fourth-rounder. Their sales pitch to fans: 18 picks, including four first-rounders, over the next two drafts.
The third-place Rams got arguably the NFL’s best (and most disgruntled) cornerback, and he arrives after their record got leveled at 3-3 amid a three-game skid.
Earlier Tuesday, the Rams sent the Baltimore Ravens cornerback Marcus Peters, who intercepted a Jimmy Garoppolo pass in the end zone of Sunday’s game. That Peters pick still wasn’t nearly enough to offset the Rams’ offensive line woes that ultimately will have to be addressed in free agency or second-tier draft picks.
The 49ers will see Peters again on Dec. 1. They will see Ramsey when the Rams visit Levi’s Stadium on Dec. 22, presuming he’s healthy and does not have further, ahem, back issues that sidelined his final weeks in Jacksonville.
Ever since Ramsey made his trade request known a month or so ago, the 49ers intimated they wouldn’t pony up to the Jaguars’ high-priced demands, so this shouldn’t be a surprising hard-pass. Richard Sherman has long endorsed the 49ers’ in-house options.
What exactly do the 49ers have instead? A ferocious pass rush that they invested in this past offseason, and that QB-craving unit is benefiting the secondary, a collection of holdovers who stuck around like defensive coordinator Robert Saleh to make amends after a dismal couple years.
The 49ers secondary will not prevent them from snapping a five-year playoff drought.
Sherman, Ahkello Witherspoon, Emmanuel Moseley, K’Waun Williams and D.J. Reed are safe to resume their cornerback patrols. Safeties Jaquiski Tartt and Jimmie Ward can rekindle their chemistry dating back to their high school days in Mobile, Alabama.
Nope, I don't think the #49ers should have given up a 2020 first-rounder, a 2021 first-rounder and a 2021 fourth-rounder for Jalen Ramsey, who's going from Jags to Rams.#49ers can use those picks to bolster Shanahan's offense (or draft a young CB)
— Cam Inman (@CamInman) October 15, 2019
And now the 49ers forge ahead with their draft equity intact and a championship-caliber defense on the come. These are not desperate times that call for a desperate trade, not when they’re riding their surprising depth (see: cornerback, offensive tackle) to cover for injured starters.
Losing out on Ramsey doesn’t feel like losing out the way it did with Khalil Mack, Josh Gordon, Odell Beckham Jr. and whoever else fans thought the 49ers needed to get back on top.
The trade deadline is two weeks away. The playoffs, that is where the 49ers should keep their focus.
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