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The Jacksonville Jaguars vs. Jalen Ramsey saga is not ending any time soon.
ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith just reported this morning that Ramsey’s feud with the organization has nothing to do with the coaches (and therefore the scheme or defensive direction) but everything to do with one man — Tom Coughlin.
Stephen A. Smith just came on ESPN and said he got a text from a source close to the Jalen situation.
— Ben Murphy (@BenMurphyTV) September 19, 2019
Says it has nothing to do with Doug Marrone
It has everything to do with Tom Coughlin #Jaguars
It makes a lot of sense and fits in with everything we’ve heard from former players like NFL Network’s Maurice Jones-Drew ESPN690’s Austen Lane — the frustration stems from seeing bad players rewarded and good players given the boot.
Allen Robinson is the franchise record holder for receiving yards and touchdowns in a single season? He’s now with the Chicago Bears.
Blake Bortles is carried by the defense to the AFC Championship? Nice, fat contract extension.
As Alfie Crow said earlier this week, the Jaguars have struggled to setup a blueprint on how players get contract extensions and what rules they operate by.
Yannick Ngakoue is a model citizen and Pro Bowl caliber player. He’s arguably a top-10 pass rusher in the NFL right now and the Jaguars are playing hardball with him. If Ngakoue can’t even get some love from Coughlin, what does that say about how they’ll treat Ramsey in contract negotiations?
Aside from questionable decisions in free agency, a terrible draft record, and a vague contract extension structure, I wonder if it was Coughlin who initially leaked the Ramsey trade request? Ramsey said point blank he and his agent did not leak it, so that leaves only the front office who could have done it.