Jalen Ramsey could be the missing piece on the Bengals defense

Not every team is in a fortunate cap situation like the Cincinnati Bengals are. The Los Angeles Rams will be looking to shed some cap space this offseason and according to Jeremy Fowler, Jalen Ramsey might be a cap casualty.

If released by the Rams, a lot of teams are going to be interested in signing Ramsey. He's coming off a season in which he tallied four interceptions and earned a PFF grade of 86.4 for the 2022 season. He might be a strong personality but Ramsey backs up his play on the field.

Ramsey was the fifth overall pick in 2016 and played for the Jaguars three full seasons. In his fourth season, he was traded to the Rams at the deadline and signed a five-year deal with them.

Brad Gagnon of Bleacher Report put a list together of some teams that would make sense to land Ramsey and the Bengals made the cut.

"The Cincinnati Bengals are obviously a perennial contender at this point, but they're arguably missing a piece to take that next step and capture their first-ever Vince Lombardi Trophy. It's possible that a defense that wasn't a top-10 unit in DVOA in 2022 needs an impact player like Ramsey, who would be considered a huge upgrade over impending free agent Eli Apple. The Bengals don't historically spend big on free agents, but it could be a different story considering how close to the brink they may be. And it does appear there's a potentially interesting relationship between Ramsey and star Cincinnati wide receiver Ja'Marr Chase."

- Brad Gagnon

Could Jalen Ramsey make sense for the Bengals?

Gagnon is right -- The Bengals typically don't spend big bucks on free agents. They've had some quality signings in recent years, including Chidobe Awuzie, Trey Hendrickson, and D.J. Reader and none of those guys were thought to be the top-tier free agents at the time.

Signing Ramsey would be going against what the organization normally does and that's why I don't see this happening. Let's just pretend that it did though. Adding Ramsey to this secondary would make them one of the best units (and defenses) in the league and it'd be huge having him for those playoff games.

This isn't something that I expect to happen but it'd be a huge move if the Bengals pulled it off.