Plenty of people in the league have had plenty of things to say about the recent events involving Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa. Rams cornerback Jalen Ramsey chimed in on Saturday, by comparing the health and safety issue to the league’s vigilance 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,” Ramsey told reporters. “And getting fined for socks? No, for real, let’s talk about it. Like 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 said he repeatedly is fined for some perceived defect in his attire.
“I get fined every week, y’all probably know,” Ramsey said. “It don’t matter to me no more, I’m going to continue to get fined cause I’m going to be swaggy out there. I’m going to wear the same thing this week too, so I’m ready for the fine, come on with it. I play the game with integrity, I play the game the right way, I try to make sure people are safe. Obviously, I want to go out there and hurt my opponents here and strike fear and all that, but I don’t want to injure nobody. That’s what the game is about, it’s not about the other BS. Maybe I could start the conversation right now. That’s what it needs to be about. It needs to be about player safety, all that good stuff. How can we protect the players as much as we can so we can go out there and give you all a good performance and have entertainment to watch, and still at the same time be swaggy. If we want to go out there and look good and it’s not hurting the integrity of the game, why are y’all fining me $10,000 for my socks? That don’t make no sense. It’s cool, I’m going to get fined again. I’m going to do something. I’m going to give all that money, and I’m going to just match the money and give it to charity. That’s what I’ll do. I’ll figure out some charities to match the money and give it to. But these high school kids, they think I’m swaggy. They think I look good on game day and they think I play the game the right way. Anyway, I just went on a little rant, but you had me thinking like that’s what it’s about right? We want to think about protecting guys and making sure guys not hurt, injured, and the integrity of the game. Not my damn socks.”
The rant continued, well into Ramsey’s weekly pre-game availability.
“It’s so lame,” he said. “I’m going to keep it honest. It’s so lame. I might get fined for this. Because I don’t know, I really don’t know, 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 . . . we’re not taking away from the integrity of the game. Like who cares about that, right? These kids think that’s cool, like they want to fine us and do all of that, but then they want to glorify us, and promote us and make money off of us when guys are out there like swagging out and then they monetize it. Like the kids, they’re going to want to go buy the stuff that we wearing, right? What [are] all celebrations like little kids doing? My little nephew, he hit the griddy, he scored [a] touchdown. Like these were things where they used to like fine and taunting and all that. Kids look up to us, that don’t take away from the integrity of the game. So 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 made it clear that he has been fined every week for his uniform.
“Week One got fined,” he said. “Week Two got fined. Week One they said that my knee pads didn’t cover my knees which . . . come on y’all. If I had on pants right now and I was walking, they would probably come up, right? That’s insane. Anyway, got fined for that. I tried to appeal it because I’m trying to explain to them the same way. ‘Like yo, this is just common sense. The pants are going to come up when I’m running full speed.’ [I] sent them pictures, everything. I tried. The pants were just coming up. They just reduced it. So I still got fined. They reduced it a little bit but still got fined. Whatever. . . .
“Next week, they fined me for . . . they said I didn’t have the right socks on. They said I don’t have the right socks on. But it was really because I was wearing yellow tights. That’s why it was because I was wearing yellow tights. I looked good though that game and got some good compliments and it was swaggy and it was cool. And I didn’t get no warning. OK, so this is really the thing and this is why I’m like kind of taking my stance on it right now. Cause I go up to . . . there’s always a person on the sideline pregame and I go up to them and I say, ‘What do I need to fix?’ They’ll tell you, like they’re supposed to tell you and they write it down on a list and they’ll tell you what you need to fix. For three weeks in a row nobody has told me I need to fix anything and I went up to them and was like, do I need to fix anything? So last week I wore the same thing. In essence, I tried to wear the same exact thing and I went up to them. But in pregame I didn’t have knee pads in so I went up to him, I was like, he got to say something to me this time obviously, right? I went up to him and he said you got to put knee pads in. I said, ‘Is that it?’ He was like, ‘Yeah, put knee pads in, then you’re good.’ So I went and put knee pads in then yesterday I got fined for the same thing. So I’m like, ‘Man it is what it is at this point. I’m going to just keep on being swaggy.’ That’s it. It’s a little lame to me. It’s lame but it is what it is. Am I going to get fined for this? Do I get fined for this? I might get fined for this if I get fined for this. Hey matter of fact I might get fined for this so if y’all got any more questions, let’s get it out of the way now so I don’t get more fines for it. For real.”
Ramsey put some of the blame for the situation on the NFL Players Association.
“They know, and they aren’t doing nothing about it,” he said. “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.”
Somebody apparently needs to do a better job of communicating the expectations to Ramsey and other players. The equipment managers should be the ones who are telling the player what they can and can’t wear. It would be one thing if Ramsey were blatantly ignoring specific instructions as to what’s permissible. According to him, he isn’t.
According to him, the league is obsessing excessively about player attire. At a time when real questions have been raised about whether the league has been sufficiently obsessed about player safety, he’s making a very fair point.
Ultimately, there should be no confusion. The rules should be clear. The teams should be clear when it comes to issuing to players the things they can and can’t wear. Until that kind of clarity is provided to Ramsey, it appears that the fines will continue.