Jalen Ramsey becomes the latest player to speak out against the National Football League and the handling of Tua Tagovailoa’s concussion controversy.
On Saturday, the Rams cornerback blasted the league, saying the league should focus more on players’ well-being rather than regular fining players for petty uniform violations.
“Player safety should be one of the most important things to talk about,” Ramsey said, according to ESPN’s Sarah Barshop. “It should probably be talked about more. And then shit like getting fined for socks … or shit like getting fined for tights or BS or anything like that. … That needs to not be talked about as much.”
He added, “That’s the stuff that they need to put an emphasis (on). Not freaking, “Oh, his socks are too high,” or “His socks are too low.” … That’s so lame. I’m so beyond that.”
Ramsey said he’s been fined every week this season for a uniform violation.
He told reporters he was fined $10,000 by the NFL last week for his socks, insisting he will “keep swaggin.”
“I’m going to continue to get fined because I’m going to be swaggy out there,” Ramsey said. “I’m going to wear the same thing this week too, so I’m ready for the fine. Come on with it, right?”
Ramsey added what frustrates him the most is that he feels he plays the game the right way to avoid injuring other players, and “it’s not about the other BS.”
“But I play the game with integrity, right? I play the game the right way. I try to make sure people are safe,” Ramsey said. “Like obviously I want to go out there and hurt my opponents and strike fear and all that. But I don’t want to injure nobody. But that’s what the game is about. It’s not about the other BS. I just wish maybe I could start the conversation right now …
“If we want to go out there and look good, and it ain’t hurting the integrity of the game, why are y’all fining me $10,000 for my socks? That don’t make no sense.”
The NFL Players Association has since made a huge decision by terminating the neurotrauma consultant who checked Tagovailoa for a concussion Sunday after it was found he made “several mistakes” in his evaluation of the quarterback, according to multiple reports.
