Jalen Ramsey – September 6, 2024
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Friday, September 6, 2024
CB Jalen Ramsey
(How does it feel to earn that contract extension? And apparently it was settled a few days ago but you wanted to hold off until you were back on the field?) – “Yeah, I feel like that was the right thing to do. Been out for a little while, just with a little hamstring injury. It’s tough because this is my first time ever having this type of injury. I ain’t never had no hamstring, so even in times where I felt like I’m good, I had to just trust the training staff to know, ‘Eh, even if he feels like that, we can’t have him go crazy and reaggravate it or anything like that.’ Yeah, it got done a few days ago, but I just felt like it wasn’t right to have it out there and me not be out there on the field with the guys, so just tried to hold it for a few days.”
(Why is this contract extension important to you?) – “It’s always important to feel value, first of all, and get paid for all of your hard work and dedication and sacrifices and everything that you put into an organization, and them reward you with it, so it’s always important, obviously. It’s money. I got kids and my kids are happy. Our family is happy, so it’s all good.”
(What does this say about your relationship with this organization and trust they have in you?) – “Ever since I’ve gotten here, I feel like it’s been a great relationship, it’s been a growing relationship. They’ve learned a lot about me, who I am not only as the player but the person. And same, I’ve learned a lot about them and how real they are, the men and women we have around this organization, so it’s been nice.”
(What does it mean to you to reset the cornerback market again?) – “I wouldn’t say that I reset it again; I would say that ‘P2’ (Patrick Surtain II) did his thing in resetting it the other day. And then I got to the mark where I guess they were working to get to so I could become the highest paid defensive back again. So it’s all a blessing, but I’m blessed regardless. Every day I wake up and got my beautiful kids and my family and all the support and all the love from my teammates and everything, I’m blessed regardless. I think it’s cool. It’s a cool accomplishment not only for me, but also for my support system. All the people who work with me, my agent of course, David Mulugheta and everything he’s been able to accomplish in just this year. It’s just a cool moment for everybody involved, I think.”
(Do you anticipate being ready to go on Sunday?) – “Man, I always want to play football. Whenever I get the opportunity, I never take it for granted. I think if there’s one thing y’all learned from me last year it’s like, any timelines I get, I try to break them. I try to be out there on the field as much as I can in any type of capacity, but I also got to trust the training staff and the coaches. I got to hold myself back, I guess, sometimes and be smart. It’s a struggle, but that’s what we’re working through right now. We’ll see, you know what I’m saying? We’ll see. We’ll see when game day gets here what will be my availability and in what capacity or whatever that may be.”
(From what we saw today, you looked pretty sharp.) – “I think I always look pretty sharp. If I put myself on that field I’m going to try to do as well as I can for the team. But yeah, like I keep saying, this is a different thing with the hamstring. I’ve never dealt with hamstrings, so it’s completely different for me. I can be feeling good, but they know. They know how certain things go and they know how I can go out there and push it to the limit, and I may not need to push it to the limit at certain points. Like I said, we’ll just see. We’re really taking it day by day for real.”
(Plus with the short week next week, that factors into it.) – “Yeah, I think that’s a big key to this whole equation is two games in five days. So maybe people not realizing that but that’s huge. Never trying to look ahead like that, but obviously the opponent, a divisional game, you know just taking everything into the equation. You got to think about it all and be really smart.”
(If you do get to face your former team, what kind of feelings will that bring up? And what are your numbers playing Jacksonville?) – “It won’t bring up any. I’ve played them once already when I was in L.A., and it didn’t bring up any feelings. I’m grateful for being drafted by them and the Khans, I appreciate them. I don’t know – there might be one person left on the whole roster who was there while I was there, so it doesn’t really matter to me. I don’t think anybody from the front office is in there from when I was there, so it’s like none of that really matters to me, it don’t matter.”
(You talked about your trust in the training staff. What about your own confidence in your ability to run at full speed and not have to think about whether you might be aggravating your hamstring?) – “Yeah, I think that’s a part of the issue is I don’t think about that and I always do have that confidence. I think y’all know me well enough by now that my confidence is through the roof. So yeah, that’s part of the back and forth a little bit is like when I step out there, I’m on go; I’m on 100 percent. Sometimes that might not be the smartest thing for me and for the team later down the line. So that’s why I really do have the trust in them, and they’re the best training staff in the whole league, so that’s where that comes from. But me personally, no I don’t think about it. I’m just me at all times.”
(I think I saw SportsCenter post a conversation or interaction y’all had where they asked what advice you’d give to young athletes, you said to really embrace the journey. I’m curious, how much time did you spend early on in your journey visualizing moments and days like this where you can sign contracts like these?) – “I don’t, really. I don’t really think about that. Part of embracing the journey is not thinking about that – not thinking about what the result might be and just handling your business in the way that you would be proud of, your family and peers would be proud of and trying to go out there and get it every day. For me, that’s a faith thing. That’s between me and God. Every time I’m out on the field, I don’t want to feel like I’m letting him down or being ungrateful for the gifts he’s blessed me with. So I feel like I got to go out there and give it my all and turn those gifts into skills. Yeah, 100 percent – like they say, audience of one, that’s kind of what it is for me. Obviously, I love the fans and everything, don’t get it twisted. That’s all added juice, but me, like my internal motivation is, I ain’t going to let him down from all the gifts he blessed me with. That would be wrong of me.”
(What would you say about the younger cornerbacks on the depth chart for the event whenever you can’t play?) – “They’re ready, they’re good. They’re good. They’re good. They’re going to hold it down. They’re going to do their thing. They’ve been preparing for this all week. We’re confident in them. They made this team for a reason, right? They’re good, and they know we’ve got their back, regardless, whatever.”
(When WR Odell Beckham Jr. signed here, did you lend him the suit? Or you have the same style?) – “No, he copied me, for sure. He copied me, for sure. That’s my dawg though, so it’s all love. It’s all love. (laughter)”
