Rams Up Trade Alert! The Rams have given Ernest Jones permission to seek a trade with other teams

[Music] welcome back Ram fans mark from Rams up here hey remember a couple weeks ago Shan McVey came out for a press conference and he wasn't his usual self his demeanor was a little bit off something was going on Ian noticed it I watched and kind of saw it too and that was the same day the Rams announced that Ernest Jones was had that recurring knee injury the pain in the knee pop up again and they were going to have to manage his workload and we thought it was that and it was probably part that but it may have also been the ongoing saga Ernest Jones agents asking for an extension and the Rams not willing to budge apparently at least they haven't been able to come to an agreement and then we hear this morning that the Rams have given Ernest Jones agents permission to seek a trade and kind of shocking news really strange news what does this mean for the Rams roster their inside linebackers what does it mean for Ernest Jones let's get into that a little bit first let's look at this from Ernest perspective he is the 13th highest paid Ram Colby Parkinson Demarcus Robinson Darius Williams a lcck Jackson the suspended ayc Jackson all players making more than Ernest Jones so you can kind of see where he's coming from and on the inside linebacker uh rankings as far as Sal goes he is buried not in the top 40 guys like Matt Milano making 12 million a year Demarcus Davis 9.3 million so perfectly it makes perfect sense for Ernest Jones to expect a pay raise but look at it from the Rams perspective especially you know they're probably a little bit traumatized from that Todd Gurley extension what do you do with this guy you know it is obviously a great player but if this knee is going to be a chronic thing and potentially end his career early uh it makes perfect sense for them to you know not be really eager to give him an extension they learn their lesson and inside linebacker is not a critical pos position having Ernest Jones in the way he performed in this on this defense was kind of like icing on the cake just a a luxury for this defense but we've been spoiled by his performance last year he had a great year so I get it Ernest Jones wants a raise but I also get it from the ram perspective dude we're really sorry about this but we're not going to do it um at this point in the season even if his knee was healthy but um given the knee the concern about his knee if the information we have is true that he is struggling with that knee again man how much information do we really have on that though is there some politicking going on by the Rams regarding his knee if so you know it hurts them in their negotiations with Ernest Jones it certainly does not help them if they're trying to work out a trade so let's talk about it from a worst case scenario they move on from Ernest Jones who do they got Omar Spates is going to have to step in and and he's going to have to help this defense I don't think you can roll with Christian roseboom and Troy reer they would be okay we can get by with him Jacob Hummel as well but I'd really be looking at Omar Spates as a guy that's going to have to step up and you know steep learning curve jump in and contribute to this defense I think he has it takes I think he really does um he had a really good season at Oregon transferred to LSU not the best year that hurt his draft status but he has what it takes to be a starting linebacker is he an Ernest Jones caliber inside linebacker probably not but he is the only linebacker on this roster aside from Ernest Jones that can really create Havoc make splash plays and uh you know carry the load as a starter the number one linebacker in this defense maybe maybe I'm exaggerating maybe I'm just being a little uh hopeful here overly hopeful that Omar Spates can step in but you know not really excited about a defense with uh Hummel Rose boom and reer rotating through there although you know Troy reer did start I don't know if he actually started but he contributed significantly to a Super Bowl win over the Bengals now I'm going to do some second guessing here should the Rams have drafted an inside linebacker over the last two years 2023 it might have been tough all the picks they had you know they went with Warren McClendon Davis Allen puka nakua and then Nick Hampton with a guy like Henry tutu out of Alabama he's a starter for the Texans now probably butchered that last name hey you look at the spelling you tell me how to pronounce it um so yeah hey hindsight's 2020 is uh Henry out of Alabama would he have been a sensible pick rather than Nick Hampton who knows but given the current situation I if they were to move on from Ernest Jones uh I think Henry would be of more value to the Rams and Nick Hampton the Silent Assassin sorry Nick it's all about balance on this roster we seem to be actually you're in pretty good shape on the edge potentially and then 2024 this year's draft you know should they have selected someone like Cedric gray uh or Tyrese Knight Gray drafted by the Titans Knight by the Seahawks a lot of people think the Seahawks overdrafted knight uh Cedric gray um he's very similar to Ernest Jones in a lot of ways I think so um the Rams could have selected one of those guys rather than the safety cam kinchin again hindsight's 2020 but you know maybe the Rams should have took that route especially in 2024 um kinchin probably not going to start right away uh eventually could be a very good player but in hindsight I wish they had drafted an inside linebacker so we'll see where this goes over the next couple of days um Jones will likely be on the 53 man roster unless something happens real quick and maybe he'll end up sticking with the Rams if the Rams end up trading or releasing him obviously be a trade uh only a $200,000 cap hit thereabouts so not a big deal for the Rams um as far as the salary cap goes dead hits and such but hopefully they'll figure something out or you know Jones will just decide to stick it out for the Rams and see how things roll with this team and the Rams will see how his knee is over the first half of the season and maybe end up giving him an extension uh I think that's Les need's preference and I think he had stated as such no extension for Ernest Jones till uh later in the year possibly even after the season we'll see how that goes Ernest Jones hoping he sticks around but it's going to be interesting to see what happens with this Rams inside linebacking core over the next couple of days out here from Rams up