JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP) Cornerback Jalen Ramsey and defensive end Dante Fowler are back from suspension, but neither is talking about what got them banned for a week or how they spent their time away.
They were not available during an open locker room session Monday. The team said both players will answer questions following Jacksonville’s preseason game against the Atlanta Falcons on Saturday night.
”They’re back and we’re ready to go,” coach Doug Marrone said.
Marrone declined to say whether he met with the two suspended players Monday morning.
”I meet with a lot of players. I really do,” Marrone said. ”I meet with players all the time. This is the same thing. I meet with them. I talk to them. It’s the same way. I’m going to keep those conversations private and keep moving along.”
Marrone suspended Ramsey and Fowler for violating team rules and conduct unbecoming a Jaguars football player. Neither traveled to Minnesota for two days of joint practices with the Vikings and a preseason game.
Fowler was involved in several fights on Aug. 12, including one after practice with fellow defensive end Yannick Ngakoue in which they had to be separated repeatedly. No punches were thrown.
Ramsey was one of several teammates in the middle of it. He shouted profanities at media members who captured the altercation on video and later took to Twitter to threaten reporters with ”war” for releasing the video.
Fowler and Ramsey rejoined teammates in meetings and practice Monday.
”You just got back to business as usual like they never left because they never did leave,” defensive tackle Malik Jackson said. ”They’re going to be put right back in. No need to make a bigger deal out of than we need.”
Ramsey made headlines again three days later in an interview with GQ magazine by saying calling Buffalo Bills rookie Josh Allen ”trash” and saying Atlanta Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan was ”overrated.”
Baltimore’s Joe Flacco, Indianapolis’ Andrew Luck and Eli Manning of the New York Giants also got sub-par reviews. Ramsey called Pittsburgh’s Ben Roethlisberger ”decent at best.”
”If you can back it up, you can say whatever you want as long as it’s respectful and coach Marrone doesn’t care,” Jackson said. ”At the end of the day, he’s a top-rated player so if you want to go out there and talk about somebody or talk to somebody, talk about every quarterback in the league, then go ahead. But I think that he has the skills to back it up so I don’t care.”
Ramsey has been ejected from two games in two seasons and has a penchant for getting under the skin of receivers like Steve Smith and A.J. Green, leading some to call him the NFL’s newest villain.
”Why not?” Jackson said. ”There’s a lot of nice guys in this league, a lot of guys that (do) the right thing. Not saying (Ramsey) doesn’t do the right thing, but you’ve got to push people’s buttons to get in their head and be outspoken about it.
”A lot of guys don’t want to be outspoken about it because they don’t know if they can back it up. He knows he can back it up so let him do it.”
NOTES: Jaguars had six players return to practice Monday after missing last week’s exhibition at Minnesota, including four starters: safety Tashaun Gipson (ankle), guard Andrew Norwell (calf), right tackle Jermey Parnell (knee) and tight end Austin Seferian-Jenkins (chest). … First-round draft pick Taven Bryan (abdomen) also practiced and is expected to make his preseason debut against the Falcons.
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