JACKSONVILLE – Jalen Ramsey talked, and he delivered a message.
"Enjoy your life," Ramsey told reporters.
The two-time Pro Bowl cornerback emphasized that message Sunday in his first meeting with the media of 2019 Training Camp at the Dream Finders Homes Practice Complex adjacent to TIAA Bank Field…
Relax, everyone …
Please …
Not everything is serious.
"At this point, I feel like y'all know me," Ramsey said. "I'm serious about my craft. I'm serious about football, of course. But at the same time, I'm going to have fun. I'm going to be an entertainer as well as a football player."
Ramsey not unexpectedly had more to say following Day 4 practice Sunday. He discussed quarterback Nick Foles, the continuing holdout of defensive end Yannick Ngakoue and a couple of other topics.
But he was perhaps at his most entertaining when discussing the reaction to his arriving at camp this past Thursday in an armored truck – a reference to the large payday he will get at some point when signing his second NFL contract.
Ramsey arrived in the truck to film a commercial for his new sponsor, Adidas. As part of the commercial, comedian HaHa Davis announced over a bullhorn that Ramsey was arriving to camp with "eight Master locks in his pocket."
"A lot of people took it way too serious," Ramsey said. "I thought it was fun."
A media member asked about the Master locks early in Sunday's availability, and Ramsey circled back to the question when closing the session a few minutes later.
"Y'all are reaching, man," Ramsey said. "There's not a hidden message in everything that we do. We're humans. We like to have fun at the end of the day. We like to enjoy ourselves. Yeah, we're very serious about our craft – of course … as we should be. But man: we enjoy life. We enjoy some of the same things that y'all enjoy.
"Live life. Be light-hearted. Have fun. Don't wake up serious. For the haters: 'Don't wake up hating. You can't hate all your life.' Be blessed. There are people who didn't get to wake up this morning. For real. I ain't trying to get all serious, but for real: be blessed. Thank God every day and just live your life like that."
Ramsey paused a moment then closed with a light-hearted reference to Jaguars public relations director Tad Dickman:
"Dinner on Tad tonight ... appreciate y'all."
That ended Ramsey's first media availability of '19 camp. Here are some other highlights:
*On Ngakoue's holdout: "That's my brother. I want him here. Everybody knows I want him here. I talk to him literally every single day. I show my support for him privately and publicly. But that's his situation. I ain't in nobody else's pockets. But I understand it at the same time. I think he is if not the best, one of the best, edge rushers in all of football right now. He knows his worth and I respect that. I hope something gets done sooner rather than later, because I would love him out here. We need him out here. We need that swag. We need that energy. We need that juice – everything that Yann brings. I'm very supportive of him, of course. But that ain't my business. I stay out of it."
*On Foles: "I've been impressed with Nick. He's making us better. Excuse my language, but he's making us be on our [expletive] a little bit sooner than we have previously had to – and that's good. We're getting in the mindset. We're getting locked in. He's making some good throws and they're making some plays. We're making some good breaks; we're making some plays. I think it has been good and very fair battles."
*Ramsey on his offseason focus: "Y'all ask me this every year. I give y'all the same answer. I don't work on, like, one thing specifically. I work on my full game. That's key. I can't work on something specific and let something else start to slack a little bit."
