Jalen Ramsey goes to the Rams after Jags controversy

Photo by Kevin Jaira, USA Today Sports

The National Football League (NFL) has been full of news and half of the season hasn’t even been played yet. According to Adam Schefter, the sports journalist that normally reports the breaking news of the NFL, Jalen Ramsey was traded from the Jacksonville Jaguars to the Los Angeles Rams for two first-round picks in 2020 and 2021, and a fourth-round pick in 2021.
 

Now some of you might ask, why would the 2-4 Jaguars trade arguably the best cornerback in the league? Well in the defense of the Jaguars organization, they had no choice but to trade him. After losing all of their pre-season games and starting off the regular season 0-2, Ramsey requested a trade. Two days after their one point lost to the Houston Texans, he deleted all of his pictures on social media of him in a Jaguars uniform.
 

The reason Ramsey wanted to be traded to another team is because in a meeting with one another, Ramsey and Jaguars Executive Vice President Tom Coughlin had a misunderstanding, with other executives present. The meeting in September 2019 “went sideways,” according to Yahoo Sports. Coughlin is most known for being a successful stern head coach for the New York Giants. Coughlin won two super bowls with the Giants and both were against a dynasty with arguably the best quarterback of all-time, the New England Patriots. One speculated reason they might not get along is possibly because Ramsey is a black 24-year-old media and NFL Superstar from Tennessee, while Coughlin is a 73-year-old coach from New York. The reason why that matters is because with that big of an age difference, there could be dissonance because of the communication gap. Millennials communicate way differently the elders.
 

Now there are other possible motives that Ramsey could have wanted a trade; there was a rumor around the league that he wanted to be paid more than he was. Normally when players make a statement wanting to get paid, they say “They need to bring the Brinks truck out.” That statement insinuates that the organization would have to pay them more money or give them a better contract.
 

But Ramsey made that statement in a different way. He arrived to fall camp in an armored truck that resembles a brinks truck with moneybags in the back of it. Ramsey is still on his rookie contract, which means he isn’t making superstar money as he should. Ramsey is listed 37 in his position for 2019 salaries. He is making 5.8 Million in 2019 while guys like Xavien Howard and Josh Norman are making almost 10 million more than him. Now to protect Ramsey in this case, he stated while his other teammates when he was with Jags were getting paid, he was happy for them and that him not getting paid didn’t affect his decision of wanting to be traded. The Los Angeles Rams organization said that trying to get his new deal done isn’t super urgent but it will for sure get done. To see the video of Ramsey arriving to fall camp, go to the following link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lnOe-xYUDLo.

    
This is starting to be normal, so why is this so controversial? Well here’s why. What did Melvin Gordon do when the San Diego Chargers didn’t want to give him a new contract at the start of training camp? He sat out and said that he isn’t participating in any team events until he is paid. So in that time period, Gordon didn’t get paid. Same thing for Le’veon Bell. Bell, who was arguably the best running back last year, sat out the entire season because he wanted a new contract. By doing so, Bell missed out on $855,529 each week he sat out.

    
But Ramsey found a loophole that might affect every player’s new contract from here on out. Ramsey played the week he requested a trade, but since the organization wouldn’t trade him, Ramsey sat out every week after that game until he was finally traded. But the difference between the other players and himself: he didn’t get fined, nor did he miss a paycheck. 

    
The way he didn’t get fined is because he would say he had an injury. One of those weeks he was sitting out, his wife was in labor, so he took family leave for that. The reason this affects everyone else is because organizations are going to start protecting themselves, so in the contract they’re going to make it where the player just can’t sit out just because he says he is hurt. Which could result into players actually playing hurt. This could go in the direction of more injuries which is the opposite direction that the NFL is aiming for.