Jalen Ramsey has had an eventful offseason. Coming off of an All-Pro year and an AFC title game appearance with the surprising Jaguars, Ramsey was recently suspended for a week after criticizing local media’s coverage of a training camp fight.
Thanks to an interview he gave to GQ‘s Clay Skipper, Ramsey has changed the conversation. It’s very unfiltered, and Ramsey is clearly an entertaining interview; Skipper doesn’t exactly have to twist his arm to get Ramsey to start ranking (and in many cases ripping) NFL quarterbacks.
Here’s a prime example, about Bills draftee Josh Allen:
I think [Buffalo Bills draft pick Josh] Allen is trash. I don’t care what nobody say. He’s trash. And it’s gonna show too. That’s a stupid draft pick to me. We play them this year, and I’m excited as hell. I hope he’s their starting quarterback. He played at Wyoming. Every time they played a big school—like, they played [Iowa], which is not a big school in my opinion because I went to Florida State, and he threw five interceptions, and they lost by a couple touchdowns or something like that. He never beat a big school. If you look at his games against big schools, it was always hella interceptions, hella turnovers. It’s like: Yo, if you’re this good, why couldn’t you do better? He fits that mold, he’s a big, tall quarterback. Big arm, supposedly. I don’t see it, personally.
That’s the good stuff right there! Ramsey keeps it all football-related, too, and still makes a fantastic case for the Bills having reached for Allen, whose racist tweets from his high school days also came to light ahead of the draft.
But Ramsey didn’t stop with Allen! Here’s Joe Flacco:
I would’ve picked [Lamar Jackson] earlier than 32. I think he’s gonna do a good job. Especially with the [Baltimore Ravens’] offensive coordinator—he likes running quarterbacks, likes that read option. And just being honest about it, [Joe] Flacco sucks. I played him two years in a row. He sucks.
And Matt Ryan, whose name Ramsey didn’t even remember:
What’s the Atlanta quarterback’s name?
Matt Ryan.
I think Matt Ryan’s overrated. You can’t tell me you win MVP two years ago, and then last year, you a complete bust, and you still got Julio Jones? There’s no way that should ever happen. I don’t care. You know what that tells me? That tells me [Offensive Coordinator Kyle] Shanahan left, went to San Francisco, got Garoppolo, made Garoppolo this big thing. And now Garoppolo is a big name—and now [Matt Ryan] has this bad year? Alright, well, was it really you, or was it your coach? He was doing what was asked of him and it was making him look really, really good.
Some likely Hall of Fame quarterbacks were similarly not spared:
Eli [Manning]… It’s not really Eli. I think it’s Odell [Beckham, Jr.]. I won’t say Eli’s good, I’ll say Odell’s good. And their connection is good. I think Russell [Wilson] is good. I think he’s just a really good leader too. Big Ben [Roethlisberger], I think he’s decent at best… It’s not Big Ben, it’s [Antonio Brown]. Big Ben slings the ball a lot of the time. He just slings it, and his receivers go get it. He has a strong arm, but he ain’t all that. I played him twice last year, and he really disappointed me. He’ll be in the Hall of Fame and all that.
It wasn’t all bad, though! Ramsey also praised plenty of players, with Aaron Rodgers, Tom Brady, DeShaun Watson, Derek Carr, Philip Rivers, Carson Wentz, Drew Brees, and Kirk Cousins are all decent-to-great, on the Ramsey Scale. Jared Goff, Jimmy Garoppolo, Dak Prescott, and Jags QB Blake Bortles are capable of doing what their teams need them to do.
It really reads like the best possible preseason tiered quarterback rankings that every site loves to do over the summer, except from one of the best defensive backs in the NFL. The whole thing is also very worth reading; Ramsey comes across as fascinatingly open to his personal philosophies, for example why he plays better because of his trash talking:
Because if you talking, you gotta back it up. If I talk it at the beginning of the week, that means all through the week—I already try to remain focused but I gotta be extra locked in. We gotta back this up. If you know you gonna back it up, why worry about it?
It’s like, when you a little kid, and you know you’re the fastest in your grade, and y’all go out for field day, and you tell everybody, “I’m gonna win field day.” You’re not worried about it when you get up to the line, because you know you’re the fastest kid in your grade.
Did you win field day?
Always.
I believe him.
[GQ]
