Randy Moss isn’t the only high-profile player who was told by the Cowboys that they’d draft him, before they didn’t.
Rams cornerback Jalen Ramsey contends that, in 2016, the Cowboys told him they’d select Ramsey if he were still on the board at No. 4. He was. But they passed.
Ramsey recently told the story on The Pivot Podcast with Ryan Clark.
“I was in that conversation of, ‘Who was going to be the first defensive player taken off the board?’” Ramsey said, via the Dallas Morning News. “And I just wanted to be it. But if it didn’t happen, I always grew up a Dallas Cowboys fan, really, Titans and Cowboys. So if I go four, that’s like a dream come true.”
The Cowboys took running back Ezekiel Elliott after the Rams selected quarterback Jared Goff, the Eagles took quarterback Carson Wentz, and the Chargers picked defensive end Joey Bosa.
“When I was on my visit to Dallas, they told me straight up to my face, ‘If you’re there at four, we’re taking you,’” Ramsey told Clark. “But we don’t think you’re gonna be there at four.’ They said, ‘We think [the Chargers] are gonna get you at three, but if you’re there at four, if you’re on that board we’re taking you.’”
The Jaguars took Ramsey at No. 5. He stayed there until he decided he wanted out. And he eventually got his wish, with a trade to the Rams in 2019.
In some respects, the current trend toward player empowerment in the NFL began not with Tom Brady’s free agency but with Jalen Ramsey’s power play. He wanted out, and the Jaguars eventually accommodated him.
It helped to have the Rams, in the first iteration of their ongoing “f--k them picks” mindset, made Jacksonville an offer they wouldn’t refuse for Ramsey, putting two first-round picks on the table for someone who wanted out.