Rams CB Jalen Ramsey Demands NFL Prioritize Safety Over 'Socks'
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Los Angeles Rams cornerback Jalen Ramsey believes the NFL has prioritized dress code over player safety.
In his final comments before the Rams battle the San Francisco 49ers on Monday night (5:15 p.m. PT, ESPN), Ramsey sounded off on the controversy surrounding the health of Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, joining his head coach Sean McVay.
South Beach's franchise quarterback, having sustained a labeled back injury many believed was instead a concussion five days prior, was forced to leave a nationally streamed Thursday night contest with another head injury. It was a scary scene against Cincinnati, as Tagovailoa had to be removed on a stretch, though he was said to be in good spirits during the postgame aftermath.
That did nothing to prevent Ramsey from chiming in the proceedings, as he wished the league's vigilance to player safety matched its supposed attention to detail when it comes to uniform violations.
"Player safety should be one of the most important things talked about, it should probably be talked about more," the defender said. "Getting fined for socks or getting fined for tights or BS or anything like that. That needs to not be talked about as much. We need to talk about player safety. That’s the stuff that they need to put an emphasis on, not freaking, ‘Oh his socks are too high, his socks are too low,’ or something like that. That’s so lame, I’m so beyond that.”
Ramsey flat out acknowledged that his comments could draw ire from the league and could well face monetary discipline for them.
He played up the idea of fines for acts like uniform violations, on-field celebrations, and other trivial matters, remarking that the league would be in a much better place if they were willing to show similar attention and scrutiny to player safety.
If his wallet's a little lighter for his apparently righteous subordination, so be it.
"I do think it’s lame. I don’t know why they put such a high emphasis on that and then on the back end try to monetize off of it, right? Like it’s just lame to me. Whatever though," he declared. "My agent’s probably going to hit me up about this. I might get fined for this, but I think it’s lame. I think it’s lame. It’s not fun and it’s not doing anything for (anyone). We’re not taking away from the integrity of the game."
Ramsey confirmed that he has been docked pay for uniform violations in every game thus far this season and potentially beyond. He was no intentions of backing down, no matter how big the number gets.
Even the NFL Players Association isn't immune to the criticism. Ramsey, for his part, has claimed that he has tried to comply with officials, but neither they nor the NFLPA has been willing to work with him.
“They know, and they aren’t doing nothing about it,” he said of the players association. “Don’t get me started on that, either. Don’t get me started on them. They got to do better. They got to do better.”
Geoff Magliocchetti is on Twitter @GeoffJMags
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