A year after trashing nearly every NFL starting quarterback, Jalen Ramsey was given the opportunity to do so again. This time, when asked by Adam Schefter to critique the slate of passers the Jaguars will face in 2019, the All-Pro cornerback passed.
“I’m not going to do this again,” Ramsey told Schefter on the latest episode of his podcast. “But probably the quarterback I’m most excited about is Nick Foles. I don’t have to play against him, of course. He is my teammate. He is a great teammate. The interactions we’ve had have been great. Great man, great player as well. Has nothing to prove to anybody. He’s a Super Bowl champion — Super Bowl MVP. So I hope he comes out here and plays free knows he has the support of everybody.”
Schefter commended Ramsey for his “maturity,” as if Ramsey offering an honest assessment of fellow NFL players was a sign of immaturity. It’s not. This is a sport. It’s supposed to be fun. Trash talk is fun. It’s also completely harmless.
Bills QB Josh Allen, whom Ramsey called “trash,” didn’t seem to take the slight too seriously. And when he scored a touchdown against Jacksonville, he mocked Ramsey’s celebration.
The Jaguars corner didn’t seem to mind…
It’s all a part of the game. A very entertaining part of the game, at that.
If Ramsey wants to dial back some of the talk, that’s fine. It’s his own decision. But you have to believe that all of the hand-wringing done by the media — which continued on into the season when Jacksonville struggled because of its quarterback — has probably contributed to this more toned down version of Ramsey. We have media outlets wondering if the Jaguars should trade the most talented player in the franchise’s history, and the only reason for doing so is that Ramsey talks too much. If this all sounds very dumb, that’s because it is. The Jaguars shouldn’t trade Ramsey (duh), and Ramsey should never stop talking trash.
The sad part is Ramsey genuinely seems to enjoy back-and-forth with opponents. When Ramsey was asked in 2017 which receiver was his favorite to line up against, he chose Houston’s DeAndre Hopkins. Ramsey genuinely respects Hopkins, but you wouldn’t know it by watching the two face off against each other. The talking and hand fighting never stops, and Ramsey loves it…
It usually isn’t malicious, although it can lead to physical altercations as it did during a 2017 game against the Bengals when A.J. Green grew tired of Ramsey’s talk and put hands on him. For Ramsey, though, it’s just a part of his game.
“I lock receivers down physically and then mentally. I get in their mind and get under their skin,” Ramsey told the Florida Times-Union in 2017.
This isn’t talk for the sake of talk. Ramsey’s talk gives him a competitive edge.
It’s unlikely Ramsey will dial back the on-field talking. On the field, there are no reporters looking for juicy sound bites to turn into headlines. But it appears he’s going to cut back on the off-field talk, and it’s hard to blame him given all of the crap he’s had to deal with as a result. Make no mistake, though: That’s our loss.
