The Jacksonville Jaguars have been in quite the pickle. The team has known for the better part of a month that star cornerback Jalen Ramsey was disgruntled with his contract situation and the team -- with little on the horizon to remedy a messy situation. Ramsey's qualms with the Jaguars reportedly stem from two things: his lack of a contract extension and the presence of Tom Coughlin as the team's Executive VP of Football Operations. Coughlin is, uh...what's the best way to put this? An old-school dude. And Ramsey is a loud, colorful personality who isn't afraid to speak his mind. That's a pretty toxic mix and it's helped push Ramsey completely out the door over the course of the past several months.

But the Jaguars were facing a return on investment problem with the prospect of trading Ramsey. When the news went public that Ramsey wanted out, every Super Bowl contender on the face of the planet was immediately tied to the superstar cornerback. The Philadelphia Eagles, the Kansas City Chiefs, the Seattle Seahawks, the Los Angeles Rams...but Super Bowl contenders tend to pick closer to 32 than 10, which means the Jaguars were looking at having their asking price of multiple 1st-round picks being met but only with an asterisk if both fell between 28 and 32 in the NFL Draft order in the next two years.

And so the Jaguars decided to wait. They slow-played their hand and lo and behold -- the Rams have slid back down to Earth. But the offer of multiple 1st-round picks for Ramsey stood. The Rams have fallen from 3-0 to 3-3 in the last three weeks but were still willing to offer up their 1st-round picks in each of the next two seasons for Jalen Ramsey. Jackpot.

And so we have ourselves a deal. The Rams, in the span of a few hours, have indirectly exchanged CB Marcus Peters for Jalen Ramsey and the Jaguars are recouping 1st-round picks from Los Angeles in 2020 and 2021, plus a 4th-round pick. The bet from Jacksonville? That the addition of Ramsey to the Rams roster isn't going to do a damn thing to fix the holes in LA's offensive line -- which is a root problem for the sub-par play of quarterback Jared Goff so far this season.

And here's the thing: the Jaguars aren't wrong. The Rams' offensive line isn't going to magically get better, nor is it going to improve all that much with the addition of former top-35 pick Austin Corbett, who the Rams also traded for this afternoon. Corbett couldn't start on a bad Browns offensive line. He may start with the Rams but the odds are Corbett continues to be further away from his ceiling as a player versus where he was supposed to be.

Why were the Rams still willing to give up multiple 1st-round picks for Ramsey when the offensive line was such a clear problem? That's a great question. We may never know the full list of variables that went into this decision. But here we are. And the Jaguars are banking on the Rams' offense not getting things turned around in 2019, even if they still make a postseason push.

Looking ahead on the Rams' schedule, they're facing a pretty soft middle to their schedule. The next month for the Rams?

@ Atlanta (1-5)

vs. Cincinnati (0-6)

Bye Week

@ Pittsburgh (2-4)

Pretty easy to see an undefeated stretch there, which would move the Rams to 6-3. The Rams then host Chicago and Baltimore before traveling to Arizona to lead into a stretch run that features Seattle (5-1), Dallas (3-3), San Francisco (5-0) and Arizona again.

It's a playoff run waiting to happen -- but is it enough to snag a first-round bye in the crowded NFC playoffs? No. It's probably not enough to catch Seattle and San Francisco in the NFC West, either. So the Rams are now facing the prospect of a road playoff game to open the postseason -- let's say hypothetically at 10-6. The Rams dropping a Wild Card Round contest would net Jacksonville a pick between 21 and 24 -- a difference on NFL Draft pick value charts of anywhere from an early 3rd-round pick to a late 2nd-round pick when compared to pick 32, depending on which value chart you subscribe to.

Or what if the Rams finish 9-7? What if the 49ers win the NFC West, the Seahawks finish close on their tail and the Bears or Vikings or Lions or Cowboys/Eagles finish with 10 wins and the Rams are bounced from the postseason all together? Then that pick could fall from 17-20 in the order.

And so the Jaguars, by waiting out the market and assessing which team is most likely to proceed favorably even after adding Ramsey to the fray, has potentially added value anywhere between an extra late 2nd-round pick to an early 3rd-round draft pick to their return on investment for Ramsey by betting on a flawed Rams offense failing to carry them past the Wild Card round of the 2019/2020 postseason.

Trading an elite player like Ramsey is never an ideal move. But the Jaguars have other talents to pay on the horizon -- such as DE Yannick Ngakoue. And if the team isn't willing to axe their executive to appease their star player, there's not much remediation to be had -- and so a trade was the logical (and only) outcome. And if the Jaguars had extended this into the offseason with Ramsey entering a contract year before identifying a deal, there's zero chance Jacksonville gets this kind of return in a trade.

Jacksonville's window to maximize their return for Ramsey was now or never. And by waiting out the last month, Jacksonville has scouted the rest of the league -- and they think they've found a sucker. Sit back, relax and enjoy watching this bet from the Jaguars play out over the next three months. It's going to be fun to watch.