Jalen Ramsey and Odell Beckham Jr. played important roles in helping the Rams win the Super Bowl just three seasons ago.
However, less than a year after the Rams won the Lombardi Trophy, both players had left Los Angeles.
In early 2023, Ramsey was traded to Miami as the Rams began restructuring their team. Beckham, on the other hand, left even earlier, choosing not to accept the Rams’ offer after injuring himself and becoming a free agent.
The Rams didn’t want to lose either player, but they were already focused on rebuilding for the future. After years of acquiring big-name players with large contracts, the team decided to move on from Ramsey and Beckham to focus on creating a team that could compete for championships in the long run.
Rams general manager Les Snead explained, “You had to say, ‘OK, who’s the core? How many years does that core have together? It’s not going to last forever. When is it best to start trying to engineer a new core?’”
He added, “You’re always going to need to bring in younger players (on) rookie contracts… They grow together. At that point in time, maybe you do use some draft picks to add players that are in their prime to go with other players in their prime.
That’s probably when it really began. You just knew that… I don’t want to say the clock struck midnight, but the core, that team, that senior class, it just doesn’t last forever.”
This season, both Ramsey and Beckham have reunited with the Miami Dolphins (2-6), and they will return to SoFi Stadium to face the Rams (4-4) on Monday night. The teams are headed in different directions, with the Rams on a three-game winning streak and the Dolphins struggling, having lost three straight and six of their last seven games.
Ramsey was known for his shutdown defense while playing for the Rams, especially in the “star” position. He earned All-Pro honors in 2021 and had 10 interceptions with Los Angeles.
Rams head coach Sean McVay said, “I love Jalen. He knows the respect, the admiration that I have for him as a player, what he meant to this team. There was a lot of tough decisions that were on the horizon for us as a football team. It didn’t have anything to do with us not wanting him here. There was a lot of things that we had to do as a result of previous years. He understood that.”
Beckham, now with the Ravens, already played against the Rams last season, catching a touchdown pass in a win for Baltimore.
