Jalen Ramsey directs ire at Dave Caldwell for meeting that led to Jaguars trade request

[profootballtalk.nbcsports.com]

Jalen Ramsey directs ire at Dave Caldwell for meeting that led to Jaguars trade request
Posted by Curtis Crabtree on July 16, 2021, 2:35 AM EDT
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The end of Jalen Ramsey‘s tenure in Jacksonville was fairly well chronicled at the time of his departure from the team n 2019.

A meeting with Jaguars’ brass irked Ramsey to the point of a trade demand that led to him being dealt to the Los Angeles Rams in October of that year.

Ramsey said at the time some “disrespectful things” were said toward him in that meeting and he called his agent to demand a trade after the interaction. While Ramsey and several members of the Jaguars weren’t particularly fond of team president Tom Coughlin at the time either, Ramsey said that it was former team General Manager Dave Caldwell who delivered the disrespectful comments.

In the Catching Fades podcast with former NFL cornerback Aqib Talib, Ramsey said the meeting involved team owner Shad Khan, Tony Khan, Coughlin and Caldwell. The meeting came after a disagreement between Ramsey and head coach Doug Marrone during a game against the Houston Texans. Ramsey said Tony Khan asked him to come to a meeting with him and his father and was caught by surprise by the attendance of Coughlin and Caldwell as well.

“I get in the office and it’s Tony, Shad, Tom Coughlin, and Dave Caldwell,” Ramsey said. “It’s four of them in there and then it’s just me and they were like standing like in a semi-circle just all looking at me. So I’m hot now, like, first of all, you told me it was just you and pops and now I’m in here [with Coughlin and Caldwell as well].


“Shad started to speak first and was very respectful. You know ‘Jalen we got a lot of respect for you, we’ve got a lot of respect for your game’ this, that whoop-de-whoop… ‘Are you and Doug going to be good? We don’t want anything going on between a key player and our head coach.’ I’m like ‘We good. It is what it is and that’s just part of the game. We’re moving on.

“Tom Coughlin didn’t say nothing the whole time. He was just sitting there staring at me, like trying to give me one of those little ‘I’m going to intimidate you’ kind of looks, but I don’t care about none of that. So I’m just sitting there staring right at him too. Tony said something, too, and was real respectful, again. Basically repeated what his dad said and kind of kept it moving like ‘Man we really think y’all should talk before anybody talks to the media. Y’all two should talk just to make sure y’all good and maybe you need to apologize to him.’

“And then I told him, I said ‘Respectfully, I’m not about to apologize to him.’ I said, ‘That’s a part of the game. Emotions get high and we might get into it. It ain’t no beef, ain’t nothing going on between us. Me and coach good. We’ve always been good. I ain’t about to apologize to him for having high emotions during the game.’ He was like ‘OK, I respect it. Just think about it.’

And that’s when the conversation went another direction altogether, per Ramsey.

“So then Dave Caldwell, who was the GM at the time, he took the total opposite — I guess they were in there playing good cop, bad cop. He took the total opposite approach,” Ramsey said. “He started cussing and started trying to cuss me out, like ‘You need to go [expletive] apologize.’

“I said ‘No, that ain’t happening.’ And then he said something else, but I forgot what he said. You know how when you’re in shock sometimes, you give like that little laugh, like ‘He’s crazy.’ So, I gave him a little grin and he’s like ‘Oh, is this funny to you?’ And I just started shaking my head, and then he was like, ‘Well, just get the [expletive] out!’ And he opened the door, and I just walked out like laughing a little bit, and he slammed the door behind me.”

That’s when Ramsey called his agent and decided it was time for him to leave.

“You [his agent] can call them and tell them or I’ll walk in tomorrow in the morning and I’ll go talk to them about it and I’ll tell them,” Ramsey said.

Approximately a month later, Ramsey was traded to the Rams.