CB Ramsey leaves for birth of child
The eventful week of Jacksonville Jaguars cornerback Jalen Ramsey continued to bring unexpected twists Wednesday when Coach Doug Marrone announced that the cornerback would leave the team for the birth of his child.
Ramsey was to travel to Tennessee and will rejoin the Jaguars “when he’s ready,” Marrone said in a written statement released by the team.
“Months ago in the offseason, Jalen notified me that he was expecting the birth of his second child in late September,” Marrone said.
“We spoke about this recently and again today after practice and decided that it was best for Jalen to fly to Nashville tonight after meetings to be with his family during the birth of their daughter. He will return to the team when he’s ready, and we will provide an update at that time.”
The Jaguars, who to this point have not accommodated Ramsey’s request to be traded, are scheduled to play Sunday at Denver. They’re coming off their first victory of the season, a triumph last Thursday night at home over the Tennessee Titans.
Ramsey’s missed Monday’s practice and was said to have the flu. He then missed Wednesday’s practice with what was said to be back tightness. Marrone initially told reporters he didn’t know when Ramsey suffered the injury, but the team later said that Ramsey had informed the Jaguars’ medical staff during Thursday’s game that he was suffering from back tightness.
Jaguars owner Shad Khan is reportedly reluctant to trade Ramsey, who has proclaimed himself the NFL’s top cornerback. Ramsey made his trade request following the Jaguars’ Week 2 loss at Houston, in which he had a sideline disagreement with Marrone, and later said that “some disrespectful things” were said to him during a subsequent meeting with team officials.
“Some disrespectful things were said on their end that made me definitely walk out and call my agent as soon as I walked out,” Ramsey said on an “Uninterrupted” podcast, according to Pro Football Talk. “I said, ‘It’s time. My time is up here in Jacksonville.’ I said, ‘I want to ask for a trade.’ I was truly at peace, like I wasn’t in a mind-set of making a decision while I was angry. I was completely calm. I still stand by that decision to ask for a trade.”
There were initial reports that the Jaguars were seeking a pair of first-round draft choices in trade deliberations for Ramsey. But the emergence of rookie quarterback Gardner Minshew and the win over Titans, in which the Jaguars defense sacked Tennessee quarterback Marcus Mariota nine times, may have reinforced Khan’s belief that Ramsey should not be traded, a move that perhaps would signal to fans that the team was giving up on its season.
The Jaguars reached the AFC championship game in the 2017 season but went 5-11 last season before signing quarterback Nick Foles, the former Super Bowl MVP for the Philadelphia Eagles, in free agency. Foles suffered a broken left clavicle in the season opener.