By: James Johnson | 16 minutes ago
While most Jacksonville Jaguars fans would like to be rejoicing a 20-7 win over the Tennessee Titans which was their first over their rivals since 2016, the fact of the matter is they can’t fully do that at the moment. The team’s franchise player, Jalen Ramsey, is currently not happy and the team is fielding offers to potentially move him.
Reports have surfaced that Ramsey’s issues are with Jags management after years of not seeing eye-to-eye with each other throughout his tenure. This has turned fans to owner Shad Khan in search of a solution, who had been quiet on the situation up until Thursday. However, with NFL Network in town for “Thursday Night Football,” Khan was briefly interviewed and said that he would look to do what was right for the team.
Fast-Forwarding to present time and now the Jags are at a point where they can finally assess Ramsey’s situation with their Week 3 game behind them. And while we still don’t know what exactly Khan feels is “best for the team,” NFL insider Ian Rapoport revealed that he’s a fan of his star player and is also willing to pay him as he’s long desired Friday morning.
The All-Pro cornerback shed some light on his issues via the “17 Weeks Podcast” and stated that he made the decision to request a trade after Week 2’s game against the Houston Texans. Most thought it was a result of his incident with Doug Marrone on the sideline, however, Ramsey said the altercation was a non-factor. Instead, it was a meeting he had with management after the loss in which the Jags were “disrespectful” to him. It’s unclear exactly who from management it was, but most tend to believe it was possibly Jags football executive Tom Coughlin, who has had a few occurrences with Ramsey and players in the locker room.
All of that said, Ramsey seems to have his mind set on leaving, and if Coughlin is his biggest issue, both seemingly can’t exist together on the team. However, it’s been reported that the Jags aren’t going to just give Ramsey away easily and want two first-round picks or a very impressive deal to trade him. That would insinuate that someone in management understands Ramsey’s value, and if that’s the case, it could be hard to move him because he’s such a rare talent.
As for Ramsey’s relationship with Marrone, the two seemingly just had a moment on the sideline Sunday due to their passion for the game. Neither really seem to have thought much of it afterward and were able to move past it with ease as Ramsey played Thursday after the two hashed it out. Per Chris Mortensen of ESPN, the veteran head coach doesn’t want to trade his best player, and rightfully so. Clearly, by process of elimination, the issues are between Coughlin (maybe general manager Dave Caldwell, too) and Ramsey.
To fix this situation, Khan clearly can’t have both parties co-exist at the Jags facility. If it takes parting ways from Coughlin to get arguably the best draft pick in franchise history to stay and sign an extension, Khan has a decision to make.
Something to keep in mind is that the Jags have enough talent to make the Jags’ lead front office job very desirable if they moved away from Coughlin, and that’s especially the case with Ramsey. However, if Khan moves on from Ramsey, finding a marketable face of the franchise is significantly harder. Additionally, choosing an executive over a locker room favorite could also cause a hostile environment for the players, which is a whole different issue that would be difficult to overcome.
At this point, it’s anyone’s guess what Khan will do, but clearly, it appears the time has come for him to make the most important decision in his career as an NFL owner.
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