Jalen Ramsey wanted to go to Chiefs but Jaguars refused to trade him there

If the latest rumors are true, Jalen Ramsey was anxious to join the Kansas City Chiefs, but the Jacksonville Jaguars would never let it happen.

It turns out the whole Jalen Ramsey to the Kansas City Chiefs thing was a bit closer than anyone likely realized at the time. In fact, if it wasn’t for the Jacksonville Jaguars’ outright refusal to trade him there, the rest of the parameters actually lined up.

According to Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated, the Chiefs were high on Ramsey and were willing to deal the required picks in order to get him. As for Ramsey, he’d already listed the Chiefs as one of five preferred destinations in the NFL for a potential deal. That means the player wanted it, the team wanted it and the price was right. The Jags just weren’t ready to potentially face Ramsey within the AFC just yet.

That’s an interesting choice on the part of the Jaguars because they’ve already played the Chiefs in 2019, and they’re not scheduled to play again until 2021. Even then, the Jags and Chiefs will only match up if they’re both at the same tier within their respective divisions.

On the flip side, the Jags are assured of playing Jalen Ramsey that same year because the Los Angeles Rams are already on the schedule. So much for not wanting to play him. They basically traded Ramsey from a “could potentially see him” to “definitely will see him” all while proclaiming “we didn’t want to see him.”

As for Ramsey’s preferred destinations, the Rams were on that list along with the Chiefs. In addition, the the Oakland Raiders, Baltimore Ravens and Philadelphia Eagles were the other teams on the list. Suffice it to say, the Jags likely said no just as quickly to the Raiders and Ravens, leaving the Eagles and Rams as the realistic destinations.

The Chiefs remain in play for other trade deadline candidates and it will be interesting to see how willing they are to pay such a premium for another player or whether they show some faith in a defense that looked like it finally turned a corner as a unit last Thursday against the Broncos.