It is the biggest week leading into the biggest game of their lives.
Yet, for Jalen Ramsey, the buildup and what awaits him on Sunday is, well, allow him to explain.
“This is normal,” Ramsey said this week.
There is almost always something about the top cornerbacks. They get paid not as much for what they can do on the field but for what they can prevent. The great leaping catches, the ankle-breaking maneuvers, the diving to the pylon for touchdowns, this is all the domain of the wide receivers. The cornerbacks are there to keep all this entertainment to a minimum. The best of them do it and let you know about it.
Enter Jalen Ramsey, one of the most outwardly confident players in Super Bowl LVI. And everywhere else.
“I’ve been the best in the game for years now, consistently showing greatness week in and week out,” Ramsey said, as matter-of-factly as someone can say such a thing. “So, it’s another workday at the office for me on Sunday. I don’t really think about what anybody says about what I should do or how I should play, I have consistently been great over the years. So, I have shown that I will show up when I need to show up and that’s what I plan to do again on Sunday.”
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Ramsey, 27, has what he wants, something he never thought he could get in Jacksonville. The Jaguars made him the No. 5-overall pick in the 2016 NFL Draft but he never made it out of his fourth season, talking his way out after a verbal altercation with the head coach, Doug Marrone. Ramsey demanded a trade and Tom Coughlin, running the Jaguars at the time, was not someone to be trifled with. On Oct. 15, 2019, Coughlin sent Ramsey to the Rams in exchange for first-round draft picks in 2020 and 2021, plus a fourth-round pick in 2021.
“Jalen was a productive player, but the time came to move on and we wish him and his family the best in Los Angeles,’’ Coughlin said at the time of the trade.
The Jaguars continue to flounder — they are coming off a 3-14 season and again have the No. 1 pick in the draft — and Ramsey is nearing his first Super Bowl. He will see plenty of Bengals rookie wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase and, if it is up to Ramsey, this matchup will be an all-day assignment.
“Of course, that’s what I’m asking for,’’ Ramsey said. “That’s what I want. Whoever you think their best man is, put me on him. Let me help the team win this game. That’s what it’s all about.’’
Joe Burrow also has Tee Higgins (74 receptions for 1,091 yards and six touchdowns) and Tyler Boyd (67-828, 5) to throw to, but Chase, Burrow’s college teammate at LSU, is his main option. Chase, the fifth-overall pick in the 2021 draft, broke in with the Bengals with 81 receptions for a franchise-record 1,455 yards and 13 touchdowns.
Ramsey since Week 12 has shadowed Mike Evans of the Buccaneers (69 percent) and Justin Jefferson of the Vikings (58 percent), according to NFL Next Gen Stats. Figure those percentages are in line with how often Ramsey is on Chase.
“Jalen is one of one, and I would put Jalen on anybody in the history of our game,” Rams defensive coordinator Raheem Morris said.
“There are different areas where we might have to do something different because it might put the team in a better position to win,’’ Ramsey said. “So, wherever the game may take us, it will take us and we are going to do what we’ve got to do from there. But you’re going to get to see that matchup, you’re going to have the opportunity to see it and I’m going to be ready for it.”