Arguably the best offseason addition by the Miami Dolphins in 2023 will miss the start of the regular season. Things could have been worse for Jalen Ramsey.
This offseason, the Miami Dolphins sent a third-round draft choice and tight end Hunter Long to the Los Angeles Rams for one of the premier players at his position, Jalen Ramsey. Mike McDaniel's club, a playoff participant in 2022, was hoping to take advantage of his ball-hawking skills. This past season, the club set a dubious franchise record with only 14 takeaways.
Unfortunately, the six-time Pro Bowler and three-time All-Pro's regular-season debut with his third team in eight years will have to wait. Ramsey collided with teammate Tyreek Hill and suffered a knee injury.
The last sentence in Schefter's tweet is important. Ramsey expects to be back sometime in 2023. The Super Bowl LVI champion has 19 career regular-season interceptions and has been credited with 92 passes defensed in 108 games. He brings postseason experience, having made playoff appearances with both the Jacksonville Jaguars and Rams.
Dolphins avoid worst-case scenario with Jalen Ramsey
Cornerback was an offseason priority for the team, which made its first postseason appearance since 2016. It ended with a loss to the Bills at Orchard Park. One of the club's biggest issues in 2022 was a defensive unit that ranked 27th in the NFL in passing yards per game allowed and gave up 27 scores through the air.
In the 34-31 wild card loss at Buffalo, Miami sacked Josh Allen seven times and picked him off twice. He still threw for 352 yards and three touchdowns against McDaniel's club. Perhaps more importantly, the seven-year pro appeared to be in good spirits despite the injury and sounded quite optimistic that he will be making quite the impact later this year.
Meanwhile, will general manager Chris Grier add an available veteran in the coming days? The top names on the open market include Casey Hayward, Bradley Roby, Bryce Callahan and versatile Logan Ryan, just to mention a few.
