Former Jacksonville Jaguars cornerback Jalen Ramsey spoke today, in great detail, on an ESPN interview what led to him asking for a trade a few weeks ago.
Ramsey starts out praising his players and coaches, making sure to note that it was not any one of them as to why he asked for a trade.
“I love my former teammates there in Jacksonville. I had good relationships with my teammates, not just on the defensive side of the ball but on offense as well. I had a good relationship with my coaches. At times we bumped heads, of course, but I think that’s natural when you have guys who have a personality and who are super passionate about the game and want to go out there and succeed ... Especially this past year. Coach [Tim] Walton, he’s probably one of the best [defensive backs] coaches if not the best [defensive backs] coaches I’ve ever had in my life ... The best thing is he was always trying to understand us. A lot of times, people in authority don’t really care to try to understand you as a person.”
He then gets into his first problem — trust. Ramsey perceived a lack of trust in his offseason plans and his unwillingness to train with the team during voluntary workouts. He was quick to note that he’d been there for everything that was mandatory.
“It all started when there was a front office change in Jacksonville. Some guys were put into positions of power who didn’t care to understand this generation of players or even us as people. My first two years in Jacksonville, I did my offseason training there with the team to try and develop as a leader, a key player for the team. But those first two years I got hurt ... After two seasons of that happening back to back, I decided to make a change to train somewhere else ... Everybody knew that and everybody understood that for the most part. But in consecutive years of me not going to voluntary workouts, I was talked bad about by some guys in the front office to the media. I was basically portrayed as a bum, a guy who didn’t work hard, a guy who was given everything ... That definitely rubbed me the wrong way ... And when we got down to the root of it, they would say they were calling and trying to get a hold of me, but they had a wrong phone number. They didn’t have my number.”
And then the second issue — respect. After the loss to the Houston Texans in Week 2, four front office executives called him into a room and told him what they felt about his sideline confrontation with head coach Doug Marrone. Ramsey noted in his answer that he and Marrone had a good relationship and that the fight was understood by both as something that happens during football games between two guys who are passionate and want to win.
“After the game I get called into a meeting. There were four front office guys in that meeting. Coach [Doug] Marrone wasn’t even in that meeting ... I didn’t even speak in the meeting. Two of y’all are sitting down, who I really respect a lot. And then a certain two are standing up over me. Coach Marrone isn’t even here so it’s about what y’all saw and y’all want to lecture me about [the sideline fight between me and Marrone]. The disrespect got to a level that it shouldn’t get to as a man, not even a football player, as a man. It was like, ‘You not gonna talk to me this way. This tone you’re talking to me in, you’re not gonna talk to me in this tone. The things that you are saying, you not gonna say that because you would not say this if we were in another space.’”
He closed by saying that the lack of a contract extension had “nothing to do” with the desire to be traded.
You can watch the entire video above or here on YouTube.