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Jaguars coach said Jalen Ramsey didn't respond to him during Tom Coughlin dispute, turns out he had a wrong number

Jack Baer
·Staff writer

Before Jacksonville Jaguars cornerback Jalen Ramsey and team vice president Tom Coughlin publicly debated what the word “voluntary” means, a good person to mediate the brewing conflict might have been head coach Doug Marrone.

There was just one problem.

Jaguars play bad game of telephone

As news broke last week that Coughlin was very irritated two Jaguars players, Ramsey and linebacker Telvin Smith, didn’t think the team’s voluntary workouts were mandatory, Marrone revealed that he had reached out to the two players and not gotten a response.

You could insinuate from there that the players weren’t just skipping the team’s workouts, but actually stonewalling the team’s leadership. Coughlin reportedly implied the players were selfish, and that led to castigation from Ramsey, Ramsey’s agent and the NFLPA, as well as recruitment from at least one rival player. Quite the kerfuffle.

Well, it turns out that what Marrone said was slightly erroneous: he wasn’t actually reaching out to Ramsey.

FILE - In this Sunday, Nov. 11, 2018, file photo, Jacksonville Jaguars cornerback Jalen Ramsey (20) reacts during the first half of an NFL football game against the Indianapolis Colts in Indianapolis. Regardless of his rant on social media, Jalen Ramsey would love to spend his career with the Jacksonville Jaguars. And the chatty cornerback has a video game to prove it. (AP Photo/Darron Cummings, File)
Doug Marrone might want to double-check his contact list for Jalen Ramsey's number. (AP Photo/Darron Cummings, File)

The Jaguars coach revealed to reporters Monday that he had finally gotten hold of Ramsey after realizing that he had been texting a wrong number.

From the Associated Press:

''Had a great talk,'' Marrone said. ''He's training with his brother. He's in Nashville. He's spending time with his family. He said he's going to come back in the best shape he's ever been in and he's all fired up. That was pretty much the conversation. It was a good conversation. I was concerned, obviously, because I was texting a number I thought was his and he wasn't getting back to me.

''I couldn't figure out what was going on, so we kind of had a little laugh about it. Now I have the right number. He's always had my number, so it's good.''

It’s probably good news that Marrone and Ramsey have worked things out, though some earlier communication might have prevented the embarrassing episode from ever happening.

Ramsey seemed to try to publicly put it all behind him on Friday, though the bigger question might be if Coughlin has as well.

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