Could 2024 be Dolphins cornerback Jalen Ramsey’s best year as a pro?

When the Jacksonville Jaguars selected Jalen Ramsey at number five overall in 2016, I don’t think they even knew what they had. They were looking for a number-one corner and got the best corner in the league for the foreseeable future. From then until now, Ramsey has earned seven Pro Bowl and three All-Pro selections, along with a Super Bowl trophy with the Los Angeles Rams in 2021.

He’s been one of the best in the game over the last decade and is now the linchpin of the Miami Dolphins defense in 2024.

It will mark the second year of Ramsey’s tenure in Miami, and more will be expected from a playmaking and leadership standpoint now that he’s entering the season healthy for the first time in South Beach.

Ramsey seems to be up to the challenge, and Miami’s star corner is trending toward an All-Pro season and possibly his best season as a pro.

Evil Vic Fangio’s Departure

I want to get it out of the way and say that I call the former Dolphins defensive coordinator “evil” as a joke and not as an indictment of his personal character because I’ve never met him. The “evil” part is a joke about his stubbornness to stick with ineffective game plans and his inability to work well with others.

Now that’s out of the way, Fangio and Ramsey never seemed like a good fit, although that fit was closer to a bit snug than no fit at all. It’s hard to put a player of Ramsey’s ability out of position because you just let him shadow the other team’s best receiver and call it a wrap. It’s simple.

Still, Fangio did not want that to be part of his scheme, and the defense suffered at times due to that decision. You could say that Ramsey needed time to adjust coming off an injury, but he looked sharp out of the box, and I know many Dolphins fans have complained more than a few times with the line: “Why isn’t Ramsey covering this guy?” Insert Anthony Weaver.

Now that the former Baltimore Ravens defensive line coach landed in Miami as the new defensive coordinator, the defensive philosophy has flipped to fit Weaver’s style.

We don’t know what defense Weaver will run in 2024 until training camp, and the preseason starts because he ran a 4-3 defense in 2020 with the Houston Texans as a defensive coordinator and was part of a 3-3-5 defense in Baltimore under defensive coordinator Mike MacDonald and now there’s been reports that he’ll run as 3-4 defense in Miami. As of now, who knows? I’ll wait and see what it ends up being.

For Jalen Ramsey, an Anthony Weaver defense means that he’ll be utilized all over the field, back to the style he thrived off of for years, and he seems to agree.

“A lot of communication between us two. I think he’ll let me show my full skill set once again this year, so it should be fun.”

“This is like back to what I do, back to where I thrive and made an impact and have a lot of fun playing the game.” – Jalen Ramsey

This style of defense, along with the acquisition of defensive talent on the back end, allows Ramsey to flourish as a lockdown corner, focusing on putting the seat belt on the best receiver like he did in his All-Pro years.

He no longer has to be a cog in the machine and can be the star of the show where he’s supposed to be.

What keeps Ramsey going?

This question seems like it has an easy answer on the surface. Players play as well as they can to keep securing the bag. Play and make money in the league for as long as you can. That’s the motivation for most players, but not top-tier guys.

Players like Ramsey secured the bag years ago. He’s playing for something more. For legacy, for the hall of fame. One could argue that Ramsey is already there, but I doubt he’d be first ballot. Three All-Pro nods don’t get you that. It gets you in the club but not in the VIP section.

Ramsey was drafted in the middle of the decade, which makes it harder to make an All-Decade team. He’s not on the 2010s team, so he has to continually build his case in the 2020s amongst some of the young star corners like Sauce Gardner, Patrick Surtain Jr., and Trent McDuffie. That’s tough competition.

Ramsey got back-to-back All-Pro selections to start the decade but was sort of dismissed in 2022 as a bad contact with the Rams.

He played great in 2023 despite the scheme taking him out of his comfort zone and dealing with an injury sustained in training camp. More accolades are needed if he wants to be one of the best corners of the decade, and I believe it motivates him.

Jalen Ramsey has been healthy for almost eight months. His job on defense has shifted to what he does best. He’s in sync with the coordinator, which was the opposite last year, and he’s motivated by legacy. 2024 could be his best year yet.

Let us know in the comments what you think Jalen Ramsey’s 2024 season could look like and if he could get an All-Pro nod.