Jalen Ramsey – March 16, 2023
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Thursday, March 16, 2023
CB Jalen Ramsey
(Tell me whether you think this is the best cornerback combo in the NFL, the best secondary in the NFL, and how that will manifest itself during the season.) – “I believe so. That’s just the type of energy I bring. That’s the confidence that I always have. On paper, this is the best group that I’ve been a part of. And I feel like I’ve been a part of some good groups in Jacksonville and also in L.A. But on paper, I feel like this is the best one. Obviously, with me and ‘X’ (Xavien Howard) on the outside, and you got the young guys – Jevon (Holland), we just got DeShon Elliott, Brandon (Jones), Kader (Kohou). So I think we have a good secondary on paper if you look at it. But we got to put the work in. I mean we can speak it as much as we want to, but we’re going to have to go out there and prove it and that’s what we’re planning to do. But it’s not just about us. It’s the whole defense and the whole team. I think we can do some special if we put that work in and be as one.”
(Why did you want to be here?) – “A lot of reasons. He just made me answer one. This defense, this secondary. You look at it on paper, it’s something that you would definitely want to be a part of, I know I’m not the only person who wanted to be a part of it and will want to be a part of it in the future. Being back in Florida, that’s a great thing for me. Closer to my family. My pops, he’s about to retire. He’s going to move down here. He’s going to enjoy life. Obviously I got my daughters and my kids. We love the warm weather. That’s always a plus. The taxes, that’s a plus, right? It’s a good young team on the up and up. I feel like I can bring something to help them. Just be another piece to that puzzle here. There was a lot that went into me thinking about Miami and a lot of praying that went into it. Mom and grandma are praying over me. I’m super excited. I didn’t necessarily think I would be traded but once it kind of started to be reality, me and my team, we sat down and we kind of wrote the pros and cons of different situations going on and we wrote down teams and pros and cons, like which teams may be in need of a corner, which teams may be interested, which teams do I like as well, which teams will I fit whatever they got going on. I remember writing down Miami and Miami stayed at the top of my list from the jump. So then I just started praying about it and all started to visualize for me. So I’m ready. I hope it’s it’s everything that I dreamed of and prayed about and I’m sure it is. I’m excited.”
(Could you talk about maybe the reception you’ve gotten from fans so far? Because it seems like on social media…) – “It’s been all love, I ain’t going to lie. It’s been crazy. It’s been love. A lot of people have been showing crazy love and I was a little shocked at first because you know when I was at Florida State, we did our thing against the Hurricanes three years in a row while I was at Florida State. (laughter) So I’m like, man, I don’t know how they are going to feel about me right now. I used to tear them up. (laughter) But man, they showed love. They showed nothing but love. It’s been great. Me and ‘X’ (Xavien Howard) went to the Heat game last night. They showed a lot of love. It’s crazy. I know a lot of guys on the team already. I know a lot of guys like on the Heat team. I know a lot of people who just live here in Miami and Broward, Dade. So it’s been love, honestly. Everybody’s been showing a lot of love. It’s definitely been a warm welcome, so I appreciate that and I hope to return the favor with what I’m doing on the field, of course, and in this organization, but as well as in the community when I get the chance to do all of that good stuff.”
(What did joining a team with like championship aspirations in L.A. teach you about that process, and how to integrate yourself into a locker room and what steps you need to take?) – “Every team is different so I don’t necessarily like to compare like ‘oh, this is what it was like in L.A., so this is what I what it needs to be like here,’ because it’ll be different. And I’m going to embrace that change and that difference that we will have here. When I was going to L.A., I was kind of a younger guy, when I first got traded to L.A. Now I’m here and I’m one of the older ones in the room and on the team. So it’s a little bit of a difference. But I know what I can bring personally as a player and as a DB on the field. I know what I bring into the locker room, just my energy, my swag, my passion, my love. But there’s some championship qualities that I know I can bring as well, just from being on a winning team basically every year I was in L.A., besides this past one. And getting to the Super Bowl, winning the Super Bowl, having success individually, having team success, being around Hall of Fame players (like) Aaron Donald, Von Miller, Cooper Kupp, Matthew Stafford – I mean the list can go on and I don’t want to leave nobody out. But all those guys, learning a lot of valuable things from them, learning how our team dynamic was, learning how everybody had their own passion, everybody had their love, but we were all doing it as one. We were unified. We always had each other’s back. It was really like a family. It was good times. It was bad times. It was fights. It was love. It was all that. So a little bit of that aspect. I feel like I can bring and help feel that out and see where we’re going. And like I said, I’m an older guy now. We got some young guys on the team. I hope to elevate their games in any way that I can, whether that’s my preparation, how I get my body prepared, whether that’s my preparation with the game film, mentally, whatever it may be. I’m just trying to help however I can and bring a championship here. And I know I can. I know I can do my part. I feel like everybody else will do their part as well. But like I said earlier, I’m just a piece of the puzzle man. There’s a lot more that’ll go into it than just me and what I’ll bring.”
(The team shared some video of you and CB Xavien Howard taking a tour of the facility. And you mentioned that you actually visited his Pro Day in 2016. Can you kind of talk about that relationship, where it stemmed from, and just what you two can bring to each other on and off the field?) – “Yeah, me and ‘X’ (Xavien Howard) met, what is it, seven or eight years ago now. One of our close mutual friends, Corey Coleman, we are all pretty close. So that’s how we met. We met through Corey Coleman. And yeah, I was always like around Corey and supporting Corey, so I was going to Baylor Pro Day and obviously ‘X’ was the big-name corner at the time at Baylor. I knew a lot about him. I knew a lot about his game. We were like trying to recruit him, trying to get him to come with my agent and stuff. We were doing our due diligence trying to build the team right there. But yeah, I’ve been a fan of his game for a while. We got a lot of respect for each other. I can say he’s somebody who’s been a cool, dope friend to have. Last year when they were in L.A. for a week and played the Chargers, I saw him a couple of times. We had dinner, kicked it. The same vice-versa if I’m down here, I’ll hit him up if I need something. We’re both family men, got kids. That was all organic and natural. That wasn’t nothing that the Dolphins had to make us do or nothing like that. It was cool. We were already talking about it anyway. He already knew I was coming to town. We were going to go to the Heat game anyway and kick it. Then he came by, he worked out and stuff then he came by showing me around and stuff like that. That was cool. And then we went on about our night and had fun or whatever.”
(CB Xavien Howard is a little different than you though. You like to chatter and he is real quiet. How does that dynamic work? Are you going to try to get that to rub off on him a little bit?) – “I’m going to let him be him. He’s been successful already, so I ain’t trying to change him. I ain’t trying to do nothing. I’m trying to bring the best out of him, whatever that may be. And I’m sure he’ll do the same. But I mean, you can call me evil twin, I guess, if that’s what you all want to do. He’s the good one, I’m the bad one. (laughter) But I’m going to keep being me. I’m going to keep talking. If I get a little bit of that out of him and that elevates his game, cool. But if that is distracting to him, then I’m going to let him be him. He’s been successful, so I ain’t trying to do nothing but just bring the best out of him. It is crazy. Me and him really text each other at random times during the day since the trade happened, like ‘we’re really teammates.’ Because it’s crazy. Like I just randomly think about it during the day like this is crazy. Two years ago, both of us were first-team All-Pro together I think for the second time. I don’t know. We’ve been in Pro Bowls together. Like it’s really crazy to think about. You never really thought that we would be on the same team and be able to play at an elite level and help something special here in Miami. But yeah, I ain’t got to do nothing to change him or anything like that. I’m trying to influence him in the most positive good way I can and bring the best out of him because I know that’s what he going to do with me too.”
(You’ve shown a lot of versatility in the secondary in L.A. at the star position. How do you think that will transfer to Defensive Coordinator Vic Fangio’s defense here?) – “Yeah. It’s a very similar scheme, so that’s a blessing. I might have to learn some new terminology and how he names things and stuff like that, but I’m very familiar with the scheme, love the scheme. There are different ways to play it, and that just depends on the flow of our team and exactly what he wants me to do. But because I have that versatility, I can do whatever that he asks of me. If he wants me and ‘X’ (Xavien Howard) to lock up the outside, that’s what we’re going to do. And then they’re going to do their jobs everywhere else. If he wants me to move around a little bit, go into nickel, go into dime, blitz, cover tight ends, running backs, whatever it is, I’ll be able to do all of it. I think everybody knows that. You all know me. You all know how I get down. You know what I do. So being able to bring that to this defense and this secondary is going to be cool for sure.”
(I was just curious about your level of intensity at practice. Can you give us an insight into that? And how much are you looking forward to going against WR Tyreek Hill and this wide receiver group that has so much speed right now?) – “Yeah, I love practice. As soon as I’m on the field, regardless, like that’s who I am. I got the intensity, I got the fire, the passion. I can’t turn that down. It’s like 100 at all times. So that’s practice and everything. So I’m sure those guys will be ready too. Those guys are going to make me better. I really embrace being on the team with a really good elite receiver. Like I was blessed when I was in L.A., obviously with Cooper Kupp. But we didn’t always get to battle it out every time. I know Tyreek, he got that mindset too. He a dawg, he wants to go get it. Jaylen (Waddle) too. I know we’re going to be battling it out. We’re going to be making each other better. That’ll be good for me, X, the rest of the DBs. It’s going to be good for the receivers too because we are going to get after it. It’ll be fun.”
(What kind of conversations have you had with Mike McDaniel? And what are your early impressions of coach?) – “He’s cool. Coach is cool. Coach is different. He’s cool. He be chilling. He’s young. Got some energy about him. Says what’s on his mind when he wants to. We can have just real conversations. It doesn’t feel like a player talking to my coach. It kind of feels like this is my homie a little bit, which is dope. You know he’s the authority, but that’s a dope dynamic to have with your coach. He keeps telling me that he’s going to be the best head coach I’ve ever had. He’s nudging Sean (McVay) on that a little bit. (laughter) Sean was great in L.A. It’s going to be tough because Sean is the man. But I believe him though, and I’m going to hold him to that. But it’s been cool, man. He’s real chill, real fun, real cool. I’m excited and I know a lot of guys speak very highly of him too.”
(How do you think Mike McDaniel compares to Sean McVay?) – “I don’t know yet. It’s only my third day. I just got here. (laughter) But just from my immediate interactions with him and everything, how the flow has been, it’s been cool. But like I said, I’m going to hold him to it. And I know the guys speak highly of him. It will be exciting. It will be fun.”
(You got to talk to me about his outfit. Are you Gucci down to the socks?) – “Come on. I got some Gucci, Gucci, Gucci, Gucci, Travis Scotts, chains on Hublot – shout out to Hublot. Gucci. Yeah, me and Gucci partnered up this past year so we do a lot of things and anytime I got some special going on, they want to make sure that they got me fitted and stuff. So as soon as the trade happened, they hit me and my team up and was like you got to wear Gucci, and I was like, I’m going to wear Gucci anyway so I got you all. Then I went to the Design District yesterday, we got fitted up, got a little fit. That was cool. And now I’m here in the flesh with my Gucci on. (laughter)”
(The trash talk, I know that is part of your game. How does that get you psyched up to play your best and who of your NFL opponents has given it right back to you the best?) – “It’s not like a psych me up thing. It’s just what I do. It’s fun. It’s part of my game. I have fun with this. Like it is my profession, it’s my job, it’s very serious, I got to take it serious. But like I have to have fun with it as well. I love it. And so that’s just a part of who I am and how I express my love for the game out there, how I go in my opponents. Like I ain’t got no friends while I’m on the field, it don’t matter who you are. So that’s just my way of going about my business. I ain’t going to say nobody really gives it back like how I give it, but sometimes a couple guys might have something to say, you know if they feel like they made a good catch or had a little success. But it ain’t happen often. (laughter)”
(You enter a division that had QB Josh Allen in it, potentially QB Aaron Rodgers. Where do you feel like you guys as defense stack up facing those type of quarterbacks?) – “We’ll be straight. We’re going to put the work in. It’s the NFL, so it’s any given Sunday, week by week. I think we’ll be good though. Like I said, on paper I’m cool with us. Man, I’ll come up here and sing praises all day long. But we got to put the work in. We got a lot to do and a lot to accomplish before we get to those games. They played well in the division already without me. I’m trying to come in here and just add to that. But I can’t even really speak specifically about certain games or matchups yet because we’re not even there. We got a lot to do internally first. That’s what it’s about. First, it’s us. And then we’ll worry about everybody else. But right now, we aren’t worried about nothing.”
(What is it about Coach Mike McDaniel that’s intriguing to you?) – “He’s a little weird. He’s a little weird. We’re all weird in our own way. But a little weird. But that’s cool, though. And he does things his way. And he’s himself all the time. Like it’s not fake or nothing like that. So I know that’s one thing all the players have said that have talked about it with me. And they like that about him. And I’m sure I will, too. But I can only speak from my recent interactions. We’ve interacted a little bit. And he seems cool. But once I’m actually here a little bit longer, actually around him a little bit longer, I’ll be able to answer that question a little bit better for you. But I think he’s going to be a great coach.”
(When you say he’s a little weird, what does that mean? The way he talks to the media?) – “Yeah. All of that. It’s different than what you would expect with maybe a head coach. He be fresh. Everything. He got the shoes. He loves shoes. All of that. It’s different. I wouldn’t say weird, but I think I’m weird. Like I say weird is in terms of like different. He’s different.”
(Last year WR Tyreek Hill wanted to come to Miami. He was traded to Miami. This year, you want to come to Miami and get traded to the Dolphins. Since you’ve been in the league, how have you seen player empowerment grow and develop?) – “It’s all about leverage, man. You got to know your leverage and use it. I think that’s what he did. And I know that’s what I did as well. So that’s it. It’s just about leverage and knowing your leverage and using it and having a good team around you. Trying to control your own destiny, your own journey a little bit, because we are in a profession where things can switch so often. You never know what one week, the next week might be one year to the next year. So as much as you can try to control your destiny a little bit, I think you should. So player empowerment is a big thing for me.”
(You guys are going to have heightened expectations here. And you did at the Rams also. I’m wondering, do you use that? Do you ignore it? Do you embrace it? Do you use it as motivation? What do you do with those heightened expectations?) – “I think you embrace all of it. Whether it was heightened expectations or whether they thought we weren’t going to do nothing at all, I think you embrace all of it. And that’s how you just store it and then when you grind it, if you need a little extra boost, think about something sometimes. Whether you’ve proven people right or whether you’ve proven people wrong, it’s just a motivating factor. I’ve dealt with it individually in my individual career. I’ve dealt with it with team success and the teams that I’ve been on. It doesn’t bother me. It’s just another tool that you can use as a motivating factor if you need to or want to.”
(So for those who say maybe you are past your prime, what do you say?) – “All right.”
(Did you hear any of that on social media?) – “Did you see me play this past year?”
(I’m just asking about what others may say about you.) – “You got to put on the film now. You got to really watch it. You don’t become this successful without actually doing good things on that field and having the respect from your peers and media. We’re going to see. We’re going to say what those guys say once we are out on the field. That’s what matters. We’re going to see what they got to say.”
(You accomplished so much in your career including a ring. What more do you hope to show people? What more do you hope to show yourself in your career?) – “Just more. For me individually, obviously I want to be a Hall of Famer. Honestly, I think I am a Hall of Famer but I’m trying to be a first ballot Hall of Famer. I want to be looked at in the same conversation as like Darrelle Revis, Charles Woodson and Deion Sanders. So individually, that’s where I’m headed. That’s my motivation and my mindset. But as a team, I’m at a new team so I want to bring all of that to a new team. I want to bring it to some guys that I’m close with. Some friends. Some guys I feel like are deserving of that success – playoff wins, Super Bowl. I can bring that aspect a little bit. If I can help bring that, that will be very fulfilling. If I can help guys grow and go to the next level of their game individually and become Pro Bowlers and All-Pros, that’s another motivating factor for me. Help guys get paid. All of that. Those are all motivating factors for me. I’m all for my teammates and my players. I’m good with all of that.”
(When you were talking a little bit ago about the player empowerment, I know you were at the NBA game last night. What did you guys at all learn from the NBA and maybe using their power to get to what you want to as a player? We’ve seen it with you, WR Tyreek Hill, QB Deshaun Watson. Getting what you want, what have you learned at all from that?) – “It’s all about leverage. That’s it. It’s what I said earlier. It’s the same thing, really. It’s just about leverage and knowing how to use it, having good representation behind you, having a good team behind you to go fight for you, really fight for you, and try to get what you want and desire at times. I’m blessed that I have the greatest agent in David Mulugheta behind me. He really fights for me. And not just me but all of his guys, to try to get us what we want and desire. So that’s great. And look, it doesn’t always work out like that. This is just in life, football – everything, how my mindset is, you can’t really just be in love with the end result or the destination and all of that. You have to kind of be in love with the whole journey and the process. And being around great people and having a real love and enjoyment and passion for something, that helps you do that. That’s how I think about it.”
(Heat games or Lakers game?) – “How that Heat game was last night was fire. They showed love. It was fun. They had the jerseys ready. They had everything. I don’t know because I’m a fan of players and ‘Bron (LeBron James) is the GOAT so I can’t even lie to y’all and say – watching ‘Bron, that’s crazy. I’m a fan of a lot of the guys on the Heat. I know a lot of them personally. Bam (Adebayo), Tyler (Herro), Kyle (Lowry), Vic (Oladipo). I know all of them so it’s going to be cool being able to see them in person. I don’t know. I can’t answer that yet. It was all fun. It’s just fun. It’s all fun.”
(Being around the City of Miami – you said you’ve been around the City of Miami. This city has been starving for a championship and not just the Heat. For the Dolphins, it’s been awhile. Do you get that vibe when fans are asking you stuff, that it’s about time?) – “Yeah, for sure. I am too. We should be. We should want to go get the Super Bowl. We should want to go stack up the wins, get the playoff wins and the Super Bowl. I’m embracing all of that too. That’s how it should be. I love that. Honestly, I love that we have some hardcore fans that want that and want to be great. I would kind of be worried if it was the opposite way. If they didn’t really care, that would suck. I’m glad that it’s not that way at all.”
(First practice – who takes WR Tyreek Hill and who takes WR Jaylen Waddle?) – “Honestly, I’ll line up and whoever comes up there is going to get it. ‘X’ (Xavien Howard) is the same way. ‘X’ is going to line up and whoever comes up there, we’re going to go at it. That’s how we’re wired. We aren’t worried about – that’s what people do in Pee Wee football when they’re scared to hit. They try to look in the line and they try to match it up. ‘Oh, I’m going to go with him.’ Nah. I’m first. Come on, whoever wants it. If he’s up first, come on. Whoever wants it. That’s how we’re going to roll around here.”
(How do you and CB Xavien Howard compare to another great Dolphins tandem in Pat Surtain and Sam Madison.) – “We’re trying to be the best. We aren’t trying to really worry about comparing ourselves with anybody else. We’re trying to be ourselves. Like I said, we’ve had some success in our individual careers up until this point. We’re planning to have more success now together in the same secondary as a duo. I’m not really looking to compare at all. One of the guys is our coach anyway, so we’re not going to really say nothing. (laughter) We’ll probably have some debates in the meeting room. We’re just going to get after it and then when it’s all said and done, then we can go over all of that and we can go over all about what people say that my man over there was talking about. We’ll keep the receipts and we’ll go back over all of that when it’s all said and done after the fact. That’s what I’ve been doing in my career. ‘X’ (Xavien Howard) has been doing that in his career. Somehow, we are stacking up All-Pros and Pro Bowls and interceptions and PFF rankings and all of that. We’ll talk about all of that after the fact.”
(Is it going to be nice not to have to chase a No. 1 receiver all around the field because you know on the other side you have CB Xavien Howard?) – “It’s going to be nice. A lot of things are going to be nice though, not just that. A lot of things are going to be nice. We’ve got some young hungry pass rushers. Christian (Wilkins) who is going to run everywhere around the field and make a ton of tackles. We’re going to have fun. There’s going to be a lot of stuff happening. I don’t know exactly – I haven’t really talked with Vic (Fangio) about specifics of how exactly things are going to go. But what I know about me and ‘X’ (Xavien Howard) is that both of us are dawgs. So if we get into a zone, then we may get into a zone and I may have to let ‘X’ ride with the zone. You go with him then. And he goes with his zone. Or I may get into a zone and I may want that. Or we’ll be like the evil twin goes that way, the good twin goes that way, and let’s do our thing. You never know. We’ll figure that out once the time approaches but until then, we’re going to enjoy being here. I’m going to enjoy my new teammates, my new coaches, the city. Find somewhere to live. All that good stuff. Y’all give me the food recommendations and all that good stuff. And then once it’s time to get after it, we’re going to get after it and we’re going to have some fun. We’re going to have some fun too. We’re going to love it.”
