Doug Marrone Focused on Bengals Following Jalen Ramsey Trade
Jacksonville Jaguars head coach Doug Marrone has fielded a lot of questions about cornerback Jalen Ramsey over the past month. On Wednesday, a day after the Jaguars traded the All-Pro cornerback to the Los Angeles Rams for draft picks, Marrone had to stand at the podium for even more questions about what went wrong with his former star player.
Neither executive vice president of football operations Tom Coughlin or general manager Dave Caldwell fielded questioned from the media about the trade on Wednesday, though Coughlin did release a statement.
Instead, Marrone was the one tasked with discussing Ramsey while also having to place his focus on getting his 2-4 team a victory over the winless Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday.
"I looked at it as obviously I had a good relationship with him and we were working together to get him healthy and get him on the field, and that’s where my focus was, so he can get on the field and help us win football games," Marrone said Wednesday.
"Now I’m concentrated on the players that are here and getting our guys focused on Cincinnati.”
For Marrone, he found out about the trade, which netted the Jaguars the Rams' first-round picks in 2020 and 2021, along with a fourth-round pick in 2021, the same way everyone else did. But after decades around the sport, even this blockbuster trade didn't catch him off guard.
“I think in this league nothing ever really surprises me anymore, especially from the business side of things," he said. "I found out kind of like everybody else did late last night. [General Manager] Dave [Caldwell] came in and told me.”
Marrone addressed his team about the trade on Wednesday morning to remind them about the likely abundance of questions regarding Ramsey that they would face. He also reminded them that in the midst of the fallout from the trade.
“I said, ‘We made the trade last night and that [we] appreciate what Jalen has done for our football team and being part of this football team. And we wish him the best of luck and we have to focus on Cincinnati. We’re going to get a lot of questions today from the media about what’s going on. I’m not telling you guys what to say, I’m just telling you what I’m going to say and I’m going to get my focus back on the team which is my job.’ And that’s exactly what I told them almost word for word," Marrone said.
While Marrone's focus is completely on the Cincinnati Bengals, he still had to address questions about the actual decision to move on from Ramsey.
He had to be asked about what he thinks about the compensation they received. And he had to be asked about how the organization can prevent things like this to happen again.
Since Coughlin and Caldwell didn't speak, Marrone was left to try to explain the franchise's move, despite his focus rightfully being elsewhere. It was a perplexing decision, but it was a decision that was made nonetheless.
“My son asked me the same question. I told him, ‘I don’t know the analytics of all that.’ So, like I said, that future stuff, I’m concentrated on now," Marrone said when asked about what the team got in the trade.
"I’m sure five years from now, 10 years from now, someone will be able to write about it. It’s not my job to do that. And again, I know you guys are probably frustrated, but you’re talking to a guy that has a big job to get the players ready. That we’re discussing something that has nothing to do with where my mind is right now, honestly, and I respect the hell out of you guys, you know that. I just wish I can give you the insight and the answers that that question needs to be answered. I don’t have that. And I wish we could get someone up here that can answer it, I do, but it’s me. So, I really – you don’t know. You don’t know until down the road.”
Marrone seemed frustrated with the fact that he had to act as the organization's lone present voice on the matter, aside from a few prepared statements from those above him. And rightfully so. After all, he still has a game to win on Sunday.
"So, right now, everyone individually, what I’m trying to do is to make sure that we get a great practice in here so we can get focused on Cincinnati, which I think we are," he said.
