Dolphins, CB Jalen Ramsey To Explore Trade
Jalen Ramsey has been with the Dolphins for the past two seasons, but his time in Miami may soon be coming to an end. Team and player have mutually agreed to “explore trade options,” Ian Rapoport and Tom Pelissero of NFL Network report. 
No deadline is in place for a potential deal to be worked out, per the report, but the draft looms as a logical deadline on that front. Cornerback already represents a position of need for the Dolphins with Ramsey in the fold. Moving on from the seven-time Pro Bowler would create an even larger vacancy at that spot, but Rapoport and Pelissero note it would not come as a surprise if a trade were to take place.
[RELATED: Ramsey Did Not Request To Be Traded]
The No. 5 pick in the 2016 draft, Ramsey quickly established himself as one of the league’s top cover men during his tenure with the Jaguars. Midway through his fourth season in Jacksonville, he was traded to the Rams and subsequently extended on a five-year, $100MM deal. Ramsey remained in Los Angeles through the end of the 2022 campaign, earning a pair of his three first-team All-Pro nods along the way. He was then traded again, however, this time to the Dolphins.
Upon arrival in Miami, Ramsey agreed to a restructure but he later worked out another lucrative accord. This past September, the Florida State product signed a three-year extension averaging $24.1MM. That figure moved him back to the top of the pecking order in terms of annual compensation for corners at the time, although the market has since continued to move upward. Ramsey is on the books for four more years, although he is only due a guaranteed base salary for 2025.
The 30-year-old already collected a $4MM roster bonus last month, but the remainder of his compensation – including $21.1MM fully locked in – would become the responsibility of his new team in the event of a trade. Miami would be hit with a $25.21MM dead money charge if a deal were to be worked out before June 1, making a pre-draft deal financially challenging. If a swap were to occur after June 1, by contrast, the Dolphins would see $9.92MM in cap savings while generating only a $6.75MM dead money hit.
Ramsey is set to carry a cap charge of $16.66MM in 2025, but that figure is scheduled to spike in the coming years. Another restructure of his pact on the part of an acquiring team would thus come as no surprise, although the number of suitors will be limited based on finances. As teams prepare to add their draft classes to their offseason rosters and make late-stage free agent moves, few have enough idle cap space to comfortably absorb Ramsey’s deal; it will be interesting to see how much of a market exists on the trade front.
After being limited to 10 games by a knee injury in 2023, Ramsey logged a full campaign last season. He notched a pair of interceptions (continuing his streak of recording at least one every year in the league), and added 11 pass deflections. Pro Football Reference listed Ramsey with underwhelming numbers in coverage, but PFF evaluation in that department helped him land a top-10 grade for corners. While age and finances will give plenty of teams pause, Ramsey (when healthy) will still be counted on to operate as a versatile No. 1 corner if he lands on a fourth career team.
The Dolphins will once again have Kader Kohou in place to handle slot cornerback duties next season, but their decision to cut Kendall Fuller left them in need of drafting a starting-caliber option on the perimeter. That situation will be duplicated if Ramsey winds up being dealt, a scenario worth watching for over the coming days.
First-Round Grades Elusive On Shedeur Sanders; QB Unlikely To Go In Top 10?
The Giants are still doing due diligence on Shedeur Sanders, being set to conduct a private workout with the Colorado star in Boulder on Thursday. But it is undeniable that Sanders’ stock has slipped during the pre-draft process.
No longer being mocked consistently in the top three, despite the Browns and Giants‘ QB needs, Sanders now may need to be patient. The Browns and Giants are not expected to draft him, according to SI.com’s Albert Breer, who notes it could be a surprise if the Raiders, Jets and Saints (Nos. 6, 7 and 9, respectively) prevented him from falling out of the top 10.
This runs counter to a late-March report indicating Sanders was unlikely to fall out of the top 10, but the consensus appears to be changing. We heard recently a New Orleans landing may not be too likely, though that report emerged before Derek Carr‘s prospective surgery became public. Sanders and Travis Hunter dined with Browns brass before Colorado’s pro day, but Cleveland has been viewed as more likely to draft the two-way dynamo at No. 2. This would leave Abdul Carter for the Giants, even as the team rosters Brian Burns and Kayvon Thibodeaux already.
Coaches and scouts are not seeing enough to justify an early-first-round pick on tape, Breer adds, with many not grading him as a first-round talent. Although Sanders’ accuracy has drawn praise, his penchant for taking sacks offers a negation. The two-year Buffaloes starter also has not displayed high-end arm strength on tape, and despite his father being one of the greatest players in NFL history, Shedeur is not viewed as particularly athletic. That has created concerns about a QB-needy team making him its new franchise centerpiece via a top-10 investment.
Potential concerns about Deion Sanders’ involvement in his son’s career are natural for teams, but Breer and Sportskeeda.com’s Tony Pauline have attempted to explain NFL staffers’ issues with the quarterback from a strictly on-field standpoint. Despite Shedeur’s 37:10 TD-INT ratio last season, he finished with negative rushing yards — due both to taking sacks and not contributing heavily as a rusher. Sanders’ fundamentals are drawing scrutiny, per Pauline, though he adds the QB’s toughness has garnered praise.
We have heard some teams have Jaxson Dart graded higher than Sanders on this year’s board, and Breer adds it might take owner involvement to ensure Sanders becomes a first-round pick. The 2022 draft brought what was viewed at the time as a significant slide, with Malik Willis dropping from likely first-round pick to 86th overall. It would still be shocking if Sanders experienced a comparable tumble as part of the latest maligned QB class, but a top-10 investment now may be unlikely. That will create major questions as to where Sanders will wind up.
Holding the No. 21 overall pick, the Steelers have hosted Sanders on a “30” visit. Of course, a host of non-QB-needy teams picking between the Saints and Raiders opens the door to a potential trade-up move. The Browns and Giants could have a window to move back in, though if the teams do not hold Sanders in much higher regard compared to this draft’s other second-tier QBs (Dart, Quinn Ewers, Tyler Shough, Jalen Milroe), waiting on them may be the play rather than handing over notable draft capital in a Sanders-based trade. Plenty of Giants-Sanders connections emerged during the pre-draft process, but a year after Big Blue was tied closely to J.J. McCarthy only to pass on him, some are doubting the Giants like Sanders all that much.
Unless Cleveland and New York are conducting elaborate smokescreens, Sanders likely will be in for a wait next week. This would open the door to teams like the Raiders and Jets adding Sanders as a high-end developmental option behind established starters. Beyond that, this draft will become quite interesting at QB after the Titans take Cam Ward — as they are widely expected to — to open the event.
LT Tyron Smith To Retire
Longtime NFL left tackle Tyron Smith is retiring, per NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport. Smith will sign a one-day contract to retire as a Cowboy, the team for which he played for 13 years before finishing his career with the Jets in 2024.
Smith will retire as one of the best offensive tackles of his generation with two selections as a first-team All-Pro and eight as a Pro Bowler. He was originally the ninth overall pick in the 2011 NFL Draft after playing college football at USC. Smith started all 16 games at right tackle as a rookie in Dallas before switching to the left side in 2012. He was named to seven straight Pro Bowls from 2013 to 2019, starting 100 games at left tackle for the Cowboys in that span.
Injuries plagued Smith throughout the second half of his career. He didn’t start more than 13 games in a season after 2015 and only played in 17 games from 2020 to 2022 due to neck, ankle, and hamstring injuries. When healthy, he was still one of the best left tackles in the league, earning a Pro Bowl nod in 2021 and a second-team All-Pro selection in 2023, his last year in Dallas. That rebound came after Smith had earned All-Decade acclaim for the 2010s.
Smith then signed with the Jets in 2024, starting their first 10 games at left tackle before a season-ending neck injury landed him on injured reserve. He said that he was considering retirement after the season, a decision confirmed by today’s news. Smith will leave a $5.8MM dead cap hit on the Jets’ 2025 salary cap, per OverTheCap.
The Jets already have a replacement for Smith on their roster in 2024 first-round pick Olu Fashanu. He took over for Smith in Week 10 last season and started the next five games at left tackle before a bout of plantar fasciitis sidelined him for the last two games of the year. However, the Jets have little experienced depth at offensive tackle and will likely need to invest in the position before the start of the 2025 season.
The Cowboys have scheduled a press conference on Wednesday for Smith to formally announce his retirement, per Jon Machota of The Athletic. He is the second longtime Cowboys offensive lineman to retire this offseason; Smith’s former teammate, right guard Zack Martin, retired in February.
Smith, 34, will walk away having earned more than $124MM over the course of his career. Much of that came from the mammoth extension Smith signed when first eligible (2014). The Cowboys managed to lock down the Hall of Fame-level talent for 10 years — via an eight-year, $97.6MM extension being tacked onto his five-year rookie contract — and held Smith to that. Injuries played a key role in Smith being unable to land a lucrative third contract, but he became the rare player in NFL history to play out an eight-year contract.
Combine Meeting, Workouts Sold Titans On QB Cam Ward
There’s plenty to like about projected No. 1 overall 2025 NFL Draft pick Cam Ward. The Hurricanes quarterback led the NCAA in passing touchdowns with 39 while only tossing seven picks and finished second in passing yards with 4,313. His effortless, no-panic playing style and ability to turn disaster plays into big gains is enough to draw the eye of any NFL scout. According to Terry McCormick of TitanInsider.com, though, it was the pre-draft process that sold the Titans on the Miami passer. 
Following a rough, 3-14 2024 campaign, head coach Brian Callahan made it known that competition was likely on the way for incumbent starter Will Levis. The team sent staff to the Senior Bowl, where Shedeur Sanders was doing meetings while Jaxson Dart and Tyler Shough competed at practice. They even came away from the event thinking Sanders would be a great fit for Callahan’s system.
Then came the NFL Scouting Combine, at which NFL prospects are given 18 minutes to converse with NFL teams for an initial meeting. Ward’s initial meeting in Indianapolis with the team went so well that Tennessee quickly made sure to schedule him for a top-30 visit, which they would also do with Sanders, Travis Hunter, and Abdul Carter. The Titans made sure to bring the quarterbacks in before the start of free agency, so they could be well-informed on their plan of attack.
Ward made his way out to Nashville on March 7, five days before the opening of free agency. Per McCormick, Ward “wowed them…with his confident alpha personality…his astute knowledge of the game and his detailed understanding of the QB position.” In his first opportunity to spend significant time with the team picking first overall in late-April and talk in depth about football, Ward seemingly “knocked it out of the park.”
All the while, the quarterback dominos were falling in free agency as Tennessee never really fully committed to pursuing a veteran quarterback market that contained two former Callahan quarterbacks — Matthew Stafford and Derek Carr. Kirk Cousins stayed put in Atlanta, and all of the sudden, the only options left were players like Sam Darnold, Aaron Rodgers, and Russell Wilson, and that felt unappealing to the Titans staff. Still, the team was attracted to the idea of signing a passer like Darnold then being able to add a premier talent like Carter or Hunter at No. 1 overall.
This was the thought process Tennessee brought into Coral Gables as they attended Miami’s pro day on March 24. They sent not only coaches and evaluators but also their team beat writer and video staff to dictate and capture every interaction, including a dinner with the team the night before. Ward followed up being wined and dined with a pro day that showed him make just about every pass necessary for the position, exhibiting himself as a natural thrower of the ball. To quote Ward himself, his performance seemed to “solidify” the Titans decision.
Five days later, Ward participated in a private workout with much of the same team brass. This meeting also saw team owner Amy Adams Strunk appear to meet Ward in person. According to McCormick, the events of that private workout validated to those in attendance “who Ward is as a person and a quarterback,” and it seems that person is the future No. 1 overall pick.
Lots can certainly happen in just over a week, but Ward-to-Nashville seems to be one of the NFL draft’s worst kept secrets. We’ll find out next Thursday if Ward is, indeed, the future of the quarterback position in Tennessee.
Raiders’ Maxx Crosby Named Assistant GM At Eastern Michigan
For a moment this offseason, Raiders defensive end Maxx Crosby made news by signing an extension that made him, for a short time, the highest-paid non-quarterback in NFL history. Although Myles Garrett and Ja’Marr Chase have stolen that title since, Crosby is making headlines again, though, in a less lucrative way. Yesterday, Eastern Michigan University announced that Crosby had been named assistant general manager of EMU football. 
First off, there is precedent for this type of situation. Though Crosby is the first active NFL player to man an administrative role for his alma mater, active NBA players Steph Curry (Davidson), Trae Young (Oklahoma), and Terance Mann (Florida State) have all been named to assistant GM roles for their respective alma maters, per ESPN’s Adam Schefter. Mike Klis of 9NEWS adds that Broncos left tackle Garett Bolles similarly holds a director of player development role for Legend HS in Parker, CO, a nearby suburb of Denver.
Secondly, while the university’s announcement claims that Crosby “will assist with evaluating high school and transfer portal prospects and help manage the team’s NIL/revenue share budget,” serving as well as special assistant to the Athletic Director on fundraising, alumni relations, and student-athlete support, the jobs appear to be fairly nominal.
Likely, instead of performing continuous talent evaluation, fundraising, and accounting tasks, Crosby will be asked to show up for certain events to assist the athletic department. Further supporting this theory, the same announcement informed of a “Maxx Match” program, in which he’ll match donations (up to $100K) made before the end of May to EMU football. They also announced that the weakside defensive end position, traditionally listed on the depth chart as the “LEO” position, has been renamed to the “MAXX” position. Finally, they announced that the team’s top edge rusher each season will wear jersey No. 92 as a tribute to Crosby, who wore the same number when he was an Eagle.
The new title should have no effect on his responsibilities in the NFL. Crosby may be tasked with a few more responsibilities in the NFL’s offseason, but his time remains with the Raiders as he plays out his new contract.
Minor NFL Transactions: 4/15/25
Today’s only minor move:
New York Giants
- Released: DT Ross Blacklock
Blacklock’s time with the Giants ends after a few short months. The former second-round pick out of TCU was the Texans first pick in the 2020 NFL Draft as Houston used a pick acquired in the DeAndre Hopkins-David Johnson trade. After two disappointing seasons, Houston traded him to the Vikings with a seventh-rounder in exchange for a sixth-round pick. Since then, he has bounced around, with stops at each of the other three teams in the AFC South. He signed to the Giants’ practice squad in early-December last year, but failed to see any game action. He signed a reserve/futures deal in January, but that deal has been terminated.
Steelers Re-Sign OL Max Scharping
While Max Scharping has not lived up to his second-round draft slot, the veteran offensive lineman has remained a viable swing player for a number of teams. The Steelers will continue to evaluate the well-traveled blocker in-house.
Signing Scharping off the Commanders’ practice squad last season, the Steelers agreed to terms to keep him around. The team announced the re-signing (on a one-year deal) Tuesday. Pittsburgh is the seventh-year guard’s fifth NFL destination.
A former Texans second-round pick, Scharping has now been claimed on waivers — by the Bengals — and signed off a practice squad during his NFL run. He also enjoyed a short non-playing stint with the Eagles. Last season, Scharping played in two Steelers games as a backup. He played in 31 contests as a Bengals reserve from 2022-23.
Chosen 55th overall in 2019, Scharping started 33 games for the Texans over his first three seasons. The GM who selected Scharping (Brian Gaine) was fired shortly after that draft, but Scharping joined Tytus Howard as early fixtures on Houston’s O-line. The Northern Illinois product played both guard spots regularly for the Texans, but the team waived him early during Nick Caserio‘s GM run. Scharping has played fewer than 100 offensive snaps over the past three seasons.
The Steelers let three-year guard starter James Daniels walk in free agency but will be eager to have rookie-contract cog Mason McCormick build on a season spent as a Daniels injury fill-in. The team also has left guard starter Isaac Seumalo back for a third season. Fifth-year vet Ryan McCollum and 2023 seventh-rounder Spencer Anderson in place as backup options. Scharping, 28, will attempt to stay in this mix for a second season.
Jaire Alexander Drawing Trade Interest; Teams Waiting For Packers To Release CB?
More than a month after the Packers let it be known they were shopping Jaire Alexander, the former Pro Bowler remains on their roster. Alexander has not lived up to his pricey extension, and Green Bay still appears ready to move on.
Brian Gutekunst said earlier this offseason the Packers wanted a reasonable return on their investment, and offers do not appear to have provided that yet. But teams are showing interest, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel’s Tom Silverstein. Two years remain on Alexander’s $21MM-per-year extension, and it appears interested clubs are attempting to wait out the Packers.
The Packers appeared close to moving Alexander at the start of free agency, but multiple factors interfered. Alexander’s unwillingness to rework his contract to facilitate a trade has factored into this process, Silverstein adds, but the Packers also did not view trade compensation as efficient. The staring contest continues heading into the draft, where another trade window will open up.
All three days of the draft figure to keep the window open, as Alexander drawing Day 3 capital is not difficult to envision based on his contract and pattern of unreliability in recent years. Alexander, 28, has missed 20 regular-season games over the past two seasons. The Packers also suspended him for a game after a strange incident involving a coin toss against the Panthers in 2023. Trade rumors emerged shortly after, but Gutekunst shot them down. A year later, a divorce still appears imminent.
Green Bay would take on $17MM in dead money were a trade to commence during the draft or at any point before June 1. A deal after that point would defray some of that dead cap to 2026. A post-June 1 cut would create $17.2MM in cap savings for the Packers. Alexander is due a $16.15MM base salary in 2025; based on his recent attendance record, that would likely be untenable for interested teams. But it does not look like the seven-year veteran is interested in doing the Packers any favors by redoing his contract on the way out.
Although a previous report indicated the team wants this resolved by the draft, the Packers waiting until after the draft, thus gauging which teams did not sufficiently fill their CB needs, could be a play here. This will be a situation to monitor for a Packers team remodeling at corner. The Packers did not re-sign 2021 first-round pick Eric Stokes, who joined a Raiders team that lost Nate Hobbs to the Pack. Keisean Nixon remains under contract, as does third-year player Carrington Valentine.
Alexander’s likely departure, however, still appears to leave the Packers with a CB need. Green Bay also does not employ the top CB trade chip presently, as Jalen Ramsey has now been granted permission to find a trade partner — for what would be his third career trade exit — to leave Miami.
Dolphins’ Jalen Ramsey Didn’t Request Trade; Team Not Eyeing Tyreek Hill Trade
Dolphins general manager Chris Grier confirmed reports that the team was looking to trade Jalen Ramsey, but clarified that the All-Pro cornerback did not request a trade.
Grier said that the decision to part ways was in the “best interest of all parties,” according to Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald, adding that the potentially upcoming split was not a result of new contract demands by Ramsey. The Dolphins just signed him to a three-year, $72.3MM extension last September that made him the highest-paid cornerback in league history, raising questions about when and why the team’s relationship with its star defender deteriorated.
Grier said that the Dolphins have been in touch with other teams regarding Ramsey, but he does not know if a trade will happen before the draft, if at all. Ramsey’s new contract runs through 2028.
“If he’s here, we’ll deal with it,” said Grier (via NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero).
A post-draft trade would likely make the most sense for Miami. The team only has $16.5MM in salary cap space, per OverTheCap, and a chunk of that will be needed to sign its rookie class. As a result, the $25.2MM of dead money resulting from a pre-June 1 trade would be financially untenable without additional roster maneuvering.
A post-June 1 trade would save $9.92MM in 2025 with a $6.75MM dead cap charge, with the remaining $18.47MM in dead money pushed to 2026. An acquiring team would pick up Ramsey’s $1.255MM salary, $865k in workout and per-game roster bonuses, and a fully-guaranteed $19MM option bonus due on August 31. Ramsey will then be owed $66.73MM from 2026 to 2028, though none of that money is guaranteed.
Grier also said that Dolphins are not interested in trading Tyreek Hill, despite persistent rumors of such a move this offseason. Mike McDaniel also recently indicated the Dolphins expected to have the All-Pro wide receiver on their roster this season, but trade rumors have continued to follow the likely Hall of Fame-bound talent. The draft would loom as the next window for a trade.
“That is not anything that we’re pursuing,” he said (via Pelissero). “Who knows? If someone wants to come and give me two first-round picks, we’ll consider it.”
Travis Hunter: Teams Open To Two-Way Role
One of the top storylines in the 2025 draft remains Travis Hunter‘s landing spot and the way in which he will be used at the NFL level. The Heisman winner has remained insistent, to no surprise, that he aims to continue playing at both receiver and cornerback as a pro. 
During the pre-draft process, a key talking point for teams near the top of the first-round order has been the matter of where Hunter should play (at least, primarily) in the NFL. Opinions have been split along the way, and that remains the case to this day. In his most recent comments on the matter, Hunter doubled down on his goal of playing both ways.
In an interview with CBS Sports’ Garrett Podell, the Chuck Bednarik and Fred Biletnikoff winner (awarded respectively to the top defender and receiver in the country) said the concept of playing on offense and defense in the NFL has not been an issue for the teams he has spoken with. That will need to remain the case once Hunter is drafted, given his added comments that he would consider not suiting up if a team attempted to only use him at one position.
“It’s never playing football again,” Hunter said of his reaction in that hypothetical situation. “Because I’ve been doing it my whole life, and I love being on the football field. I feel like I could dominate on each side of the ball, so I really enjoy doing it.”
During Colorado’s Pro Day, Hunter – who did not participate in drills at the Combine, like many other top prospects – worked exclusively as a receiver. He is nevertheless seen in some circles as a cornerback, and how teams plan to use him will remain a key factor in determining his destination. The Browns (set to select second overall) and Giants (third) loom as his likeliest landing spots.
To no surprise, Hunter is among the prospects who will be in attendance for the first round of the draft. He will not need to wait long to hear his name called, but intrigue over his workload will persist throughout the build-up to his rookie campaign.