THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. — Rams cornerback Jalen Ramsey wants to believe there was no foul play involved regarding the Miami Dolphins’ injury situation with quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, who slammed his head last week against the Buffalo Bills before sustaining a concussion three days later versus the Cincinnati Bengals.
“If he was in a situation where it wasn’t smart for him to even be out there, I would like to think they wouldn’t have put him out there,” Ramsey said.
Ramsey wished Tagovailoa well, but the situation got him thinking about the league prioritizing player fines for those who don’t meet the uniform requirements. Ramsey said he’s been fined every week this season, including a fine of more than $10,000 for wearing the wrong socks last week against the Arizona Cardinals.
“Player safety should be like one of the most important things talked about,” Ramsey said to begin his 15-minute rant toward the NFL. “It probably needs to be talked about more, and then (expletive) like getting fined for socks. No, for real. Let’s talk about it. (Expletive) like getting fined for socks or (expletive) like getting fined for tights or ‘BS’ or anything like that.
“We need to start talking about that. That needs to not be talked about as much, right? We need to talk about players’ safety. That’s the stuff they need to put emphasis on, not freaking his socks are too high or his socks are too low or something like that. That’s so lame. I’m so beyond that. I get fined every week. Y’all probably know. It don’t matter to me no more. I’m going to continue to be fined because 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.”
Ramsey was fined for sporting yellow socks with yellow tights versus the Cardinals, despite getting the OK from officials in a pre-game meeting to ensure he met uniform requirements.
“It’s the team colors, it’s not like I wore red,” Ramsey said.
Ramsey also mentioned that he got fined because his knee pads didn’t cover his knees in Week 1 and got it reduced after submitting pictures with his knee pads covering his knees.
“I play the game with integrity,” Ramsey said. “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 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 can start the conversation right now.
“That’s what it needs to be about. It needs to be about players’ safety and all that good stuff. How do we protect the players as much as we can, so we can go out and give y’all a good performance and have entertainment to watch and still at the same time be swaggy.”
Ramsey called the league hypocritical for monetizing and promoting players’ swagger, including touchdown celebrations that get fined and flagged in games only to be used in league licensed video games.
“They want to fine us and do all that, but then they want glorify us and promote us and make money off of us when guys are out there like swaggin’ out and then they monetize it, like the kids are going to want to buy stuff that we’re wearing,” Ramsey said.
Ramsey said he plans on matching future fines and donating the money to charities. The five-time Pro Bowler, who aspires to be a high school football coach in the future, recently began a mentorship program where he visits high schools in the Los Angeles area and provides guidance on and off the field.
Edwards enters concussion protocol
Rams left guard David Edwards will be sidelined for Monday night against the San Francisco 49ers because he was placed in the concussion protocol Saturday morning.
Edwards didn’t practice Friday after informing the team that he wasn’t feeling well. Offensive lineman Bobby Evans is scheduled to replace Edwards on the starting unit.
“He wasn’t feeling too great,” Rams coach Sean McVay said. “He said he was a little bit foggy. Obviously, you can’t be too careful with some of these things. We went through the protocol.”
McVay said what happened with Tagovailoa and the Dolphins didn’t change their approach with Edwards, but it did provide a heightened awareness.
“Heightened awareness and just acknowledging that situation,” McVay said. “Whether that happened or not, that would have zero to do with our approach with David Edwards, but I know there’s been a lot of questions in that situation. In particular, it brought light to a lot of questions and I feel really good about the processes and procedures that have been in place since I’ve been here and in this role as it relates to communication with the medical group.
“I think the biggest thing is it’s about the person before the player, and some of these things when you realize this game is so important to so many of us, and when you’re in the midst and in the moment of it, you think that this is just going to be forever, but you realize this is a small blip in time. There’s so many things to life. With family, with friends, the people that love you and support you and care about you unconditionally, and I think it’s our job as coaches and really in general to look out for the person, one, the player next. These are things we certainly don’t take lightly.”
Injury updates
Center Brian Allen (knee) and cornerbacks David Long (groin) and Cobie Durant (hamstring) were ruled out versus the 49ers.
Rookie cornerback Derion Kendrick was removed from the concussion protocol and cleared to play Monday night. Safety Jordan Fuller (hamstring) was also taken off the injury report and available to play.
