Amid plenty of questions regarding when and how Jaguars cornerback Jalen Ramsey injured his back and when and where he’ll be able to return, there’s no such ambiguity regarding Jaguars linebacker Myles Jack.
Jack suffered a concussion six days ago, against the Titans. He was, by all appearances, knocked unconscious, at least momentarily. But he has been cleared to return to practice, and he fully participated in practice on Wednesday.
The example set by Jack underscores the risk Ramsey is taking by allowing the internal and external perception to linger that, after failing to hold out, he’s essentially holding in. He wants a trade, he isn’t (for now) getting one, and he’s apparently hoping the team becomes sufficiently exasperated with him to pull the trigger on a trade.
From the Monday flu to the Wednesday back injury, it’s at best a big coincidence for Ramsey, one made more curious because the back injury seems to be a fallback to the flu, even though he supposedly suffered it last Thursday (and thus would have been suffering from it on Monday, along with the flu).
Ramsey is a great player, and he seems to be a great guy. He deserves to be the highest paid cornerback in football, possibly by a wide margin. But either he’s getting bad advice or he’s ignoring good advice given, because if he was truly sick and if he truly has a back injury, he should be doing everything in his power to avoid the perception that he’s clumsily staging a one-man wildcat strike, while guys like Myles Jack are fighting through a very real and potentially serious health condition to get back to work ASAFP.