WATCH: Rolex
Photo Credit: Mark SquiresAGAIN, AND AGAIN, AND AGAIN. HERE’S WHY THE NFL’S HIGHEST PAID CORNERBACK CAN’T STOP, AND WON’T STOP.
BY LAURA SCHREFFLER
PHOTOGRAPHY MARK SQUIRES
STYLING JYOTISHA BRIDGES
GROOMING JUANITA LOPEZ
SHOT ON LOCATION IN HIDDEN HILLS, CA
JALEN RAMSEY HATES LOSING. How much, you might ask? Let’s just say that the highest paid cornerback in NFL history has a tough time letting his daughters win a game of pickup kickball in their backyard. That much.
The best thing about the Super Bowl LVI champion is that he is totally up front and unapologetic about his desire to win — or perhaps very transparent about how very, very much he hates to lose. It all depends on how you look at it.
“As soon as something is competitive [it’s all over]. I could be having the most chill day ever, but as soon as my daughters want to go in the backyard and play kickball, I know that I’m going to go into compete mode and kick a few home runs at the very least. That’s just me; I can’t help it,” he concedes. It is only when this home game is officially over that life can continue like normal. “When we’re done, we can go back to having our little tea party or whatever, and then I’ll be cool.”
Tea parties are totally safe, but Monopoly, Clue, Life… maybe not so much. Although Ramsey doesn’t have the same fire inside to win at board games as he would in something that spotlights his athletic prowess, a game is still a game, after all. “My competitive drive wouldn’t kick in at the extreme level I’m used to, but I would probably still want to win. At the end of the day, I hate losing. I probably hate losing more than I like winning. I just cannot stand losing at all,” the 27-year-old LA Rams star admits, noting, “If I’m playing Monopoly, I still try to buy up all the properties, but it’s not like football. Football fits into my fierce competitive folder.” Duly noted, and filed away in the memory bank, Jalen.
He doesn’t hide his fierce side — quite the opposite, in fact. Ramsey’s on-field trash talking is next-level, and well-documented. Who can forget the comment he made in 2018 about tackling his own grandma if she were to get in his way on the gridiron? This is a sentiment he is very much doubling down on, by the way.
“Somebody asked me if my grandma was on the field, would I still have the same [tough] demeanor, and I was like, ‘Yeah, I would.’ Honestly, that’s that,” he recalls, declaring, “I stand by that still. I mean, when it’s time to compete, I’m ready to go, no matter who my opponent is. It could be the people closest to me — my dad, my brother, even my grandma. If they’re my opponent during that time frame, during those 60 minutes or 3 hours, whatever it is, I’m going to have the same kind of focus.”
But the Ramsey we see on the field is a totally different dude than the one I’m meeting over Zoom this June, or the one I meet in person at home in Los Angeles in July. He’s got a wide, pleasant smile, he’s attentive and alert, warm and welcoming. During our initial chat, he also happens to be wearing a hat with a giant smiley face emblazoned on it. See? it seems to say, I am nice! And he is — until you’re competing against him, that is.
“A lot of my friends and family, the ones who are closest to me, always say that I have this switch that just flips. They know me as this chill guy, always smiling, always having a great time, but that’s just a part of who I feel like I have to be, who I have to become to achieve that greatness on the field.”
I liken the dichotomy of his on-field persona to his real-life one to the way actors wear different characters like cloaks, and he agrees that this is a concise way of breaking down what he does. By that same token, within the team, he always fully plays his part, in propria persona, in other words. Specifically, he’s the tone-setter, and the way he sets said tone is by talking shit and spitting game. No apologies.
Photo Credit: Mark Squires
“I’m kind of like who Draymond Green is for the Warriors,” he says. “My personality within the Rams is making sure that everybody is playing with the same type of mindset. By whatever means, I’m going to make sure that happens, and that’s kind of where I got my persona from the outside world, [that] think all I do is talk trash on the field or receive penalties — but that’s what’s needed sometimes. Football is a fierce game,
it’s a competitive game, and I fully intend to keep it that way. So whatever ways that may be — whether that’s hitting somebody or getting under somebody’s skin — making sure my teammates are on the same page, that’s definitely one of my roles inside that locker room, for sure.”
By now, his teammates almost certainly know what the five-time Pro Bowler and three-time First Team All-Pro player stands for, and that, while his on-field outbursts could seem like poor sportsmanship (he was fined $15,000 for bad behavior during a game against the San Francisco 49ers earlier this year), it is, he says, quite the opposite. “I know this is going to sound crazy,” he admits, “but even when I flip [out on the field], it’s coming from my love of the game, love of my teammates, and who I need to be for them. It’s never coming from a bad place; I don’t want to injure anyone, but I do want to respect the game, so I’ve got to hit you hard. I’ve got to be fierce. But please believe me, this is coming from love; it’s just expressed in a different way.”
According to Ramsey, while his competitors may not feel the love in the moment, they do understand his tenacity and desire to play the game as a true competitor would. On any given Sunday post-play, when rival teams meet midfield to shake hands and offer congratulations like gentlemen, Ramsey will receive praise from his opponents — or their front offices. “[Oftentimes a defensive player] will say, ‘I really respect the way you played out there, I really respect your game.’ [Arizona Cardinals head coach] Kliff Kingsbury has said some things to me after games, and [Green Bay Packers head coach] Matt LaFleur has also given me compliments on multiple occasions. To me, that’s one of the biggest compliments that I can receive, because that means you truly got to see what I gave on the field, you got to see the passion that I was playing with, the impact I’m trying to make.”
Speaking of making an impact, well, the Rams obviously did just that last season, in a big way. You know, a little old thing called the Super Bowl. Ever heard of it? “We were the best team last year, the team that played the best when it mattered. But at the same time, I love competitive greatness, and a big part of that is always looking for more, and what’s next. I try to push myself to the limit, I try not to get content, because I want to be a big part of the success the team has again this year, which hopefully includes going for back-to-back Super Bowls.
That’s the next step. Don’t get me wrong: Winning one is great, but two in a row? That’s a different level. That’s legendary.”
And who doesn’t want to be legendary? Ramsey, it seems, fully embodies that word. What’s more, he knows what he must do to become it.
“We can’t just be happy with what we did [last season]. If you think that way, you won’t win again. You must apply that pressure to yourselves, to your routine, to your regiment, but you also must apply that pressure to your opponents as well. I try to be intentional about being in the present and enjoying the ride, but my ambition to be great often leads me down the path to thinking about the future and the things I want to achieve. Pressure is what you make it: It’s either going to make you fail, make you soft, or it’s going to polish you, make you a diamond. If it turns you into that diamond, the pressure was well worth it. I try to apply pressure most of the time, but I’m strategic about it.”
A diamond in the rough is the perfect analogy for Ramsey, though he did finally receive that highly polished, diamond-encrusted Super Bowl ring from Jason of Beverly Hills, approximately 20 carats of white diamonds set in white and yellow gold, the most carat weight in history for a championship ring, the .26 carats of diamonds on the two palm trees featured on the face of the ring representing the franchise’s 26 total postseason wins. That ring has another meaning, too: it proves that Ramsey, and his Rams, were the toughest, the most resilient team in the league. And they’re officially back at in once again.
On that note, Ramsey was beyond eager for training camp. Though it means the end of his treasured downtime, it also marks the start of another season with a crew he’s grateful for. Because Jalen Ramsey has finally found his place in the league, a crowning achievement in itself given that his first years were less than stellar.
He was initially selected as the fifth overall pick by the Jacksonville Jaguars during the 2016 NFL Draft, helping the team break through a 10-year playoff drought. He only headed west to join forces with the Rams midway through the 2019 season after a fallout with the Jaguars’ front office. In 2020, he signed an extension deal in LA that made him the highest-paid defensive back in league history — a five-year, $100 million contract with $71.2 million guaranteed.
Needless to say that while he’s sitting pretty now, he can look back at those early days with relief — now that they’re over. “I wouldn’t say I was living my best life,” he admits. “It was still a challenge when I was in Jacksonville; it wasn’t the place I necessarily wanted to be, and it wasn’t a great situation at the time. Even though I was living my dream, life was difficult. Football wasn’t fun there. But ever since I’ve been out here in LA, ever since I got traded to the Rams, there’s been a total shift. It’s everything I actually dreamed of. This was everything I thought playing in the NFL would be: Everyone’s together, everyone’s friends, not just work acquaintances. It’s sunny here; it’s not raining, it’s not gloomy. Everything about my transition from Jacksonville to LA has been super-positive. A lot of things are going on and going the right way.”
That smiley face cap makes much more sense now: It’s his state of mind. That SoCal sunshine is truly working for and on him.
He agrees wholeheartedly with this assessment. “Honestly, I get up with a smile, knowing that today is going to be a great day, every day. And throughout each day, I’m super thankful, super-grateful, because I get to live my dream. I just look around and I’m like, Dang, this is my life. This is the life I get to live. How lucky am I?”
He’s not expecting an answer. It’s rhetorical.
SHOE: Lanvin
SHIRT: Etro
Photo Credit: Mark Squires
OBVIOUSLY, JALEN RAMSEY has mad love for Los Angeles. After all, the City of Angels has been hella good to him. But despite his love for La La Land, there is one thing he’s truly not a fan of (and nor is anyone else, for that matter, because LA traffic well and truly sucks). But on Ramsey’s end, at least he’s crawling down the 405 in style.
“I mean, besides the traffic, LA is a great place,” he notes, unabashedly adding, “but really, I’m super-blessed because most of the time I don’t even drive; I have a driver. But when I am driving, I like to drive in nice, smooth, luxury whips.”
His collection is extensive. It includes a newly-wrapped Rolls-Royce Cullinan, which was his to-me from-me gift of two Christmases past. He also owns a Mustang GT convertible, a gorgeous green Mercedes-Benz G-Class wagon, and his latest, a Lamborghini Urus, a big and well-deserved reward for his recent Super Bowl glory.
“I’ve always wanted a Lamborghini, but I give myself goals and milestones to hit before I buy myself something or give myself something expensive. It’s something for me to shoot for, to achieve. So this Urus was definitely one of my goals. I remember having a conversation with my finance guys a year ago, and saying at the end of our conversation, ‘If we win the Super Bowl, I’m going to buy myself a nice gift.’ This was that gift.”
And a well-earned one, too. No one helped Ramsey get to where he is today — he did that all on his own through hard work and dedication, practicing purposefully in his hometown of Nashville before enrolling at Florida State University. It was here, during his 2015 season with the Seminoles, that he was named as a Consensus All-American, and why, ultimately, he cut his college career short, opting out of his senior year to enter the 2016 NFL Draft.
And we all know what a smart decision that was, given the trajectory of his pro career and his current monster contract. Equally intelligently, Ramsey hired a dedicated financial team, intent on reaping the most long-term rewards, and became a practical investor. Currently, his investments run the gamut from real estate to valuable timepieces to innovative technology, like the sports nutrition company BioSteel, Oxe Fit, and Rally.
There is a purpose to these financial endeavors, clearly, and that is this: “My end goal is to create generational wealth so that my daughters and their kids never have to worry; they will be set up,” he says.
This is part of the reason that he doesn’t automatically let his girls win — he wants them to learn some important life lessons (and there you were thinking he was harsh!). He wants Breelyn, 4; Brooklyn, 2; and Joonie, 1, to learn the value of hard work, just as he himself did.
Photo Credit: Mark Squires
“Sometimes it’s probably a little overkill [the way that I operate],” he admits. “[My daughters are] growing up differently than I did, than their grandparents did; they’re growing up a bit spoiled. They have a nice, big home, whatever snacks they want. If they want to stop at McDonald’s on the way home, I can make that happen. They’re riding around in a Rolls-Royce or a Lamborghini when I’m taking them to play dates. It’s quite different from how I grew up, which is probably why I go tougher on them. I’m like, Yo, look, Daddy got all this because I work extremely hard; nothing was handed to me, and nothing will be handed to y’all, either. At the end of the day, I want to instill in them that they’ve got to work hard for the things they want in life. I’m super big on making them be independent; taking any opportunity that I get to show them that they can figure things out on their own.”
I wonder out loud if the attributes Ramsey is trying to create in his kids are traits that he is proud of in himself, and that answer is a resounding “yes.” When I ask him to describe himself in five words or phrases, he comes back with “faith-filled,” “trustworthy,” “loyal,” “having integrity,” and being someone who does “everything in love.” To summarize for a man of such strong faith (and Ramsey is a man of faith, frequently sharing Bible quotes and his love of the Lord on social media) a verse from 1 Corinthians 13: “Now I know in part; then I shall know fully as I am fully known. And now these three things remain: faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love.” It’s his raison d’être, he believes. [And also why he works so relentlessly on upping his philanthropic, goodwill game with his nonprofit, The Safety Corner, which, last year alone, provided 345,000 meals to LA food banks. For every interception recorded by the Rams defense, 5,000 meals were donated; for every sack and forced fumble, twice as many meals were donated.]
Love, he’s told me repeatedly, is at his core. He believes it, and I do, too, especially after he tells me what really gets to him, what really gives him pause. “When people have misconceptions about me, it’s never bothered me, ever. When someone reads something about me and bases their experience on that, who cares? What will bother me is if I’m talking to someone, and they go away saying it was an unpleasant experience. Even if they see me one way on the field, if I met them in person and they said, ‘Yo, I could tell his vibe was different, that he had a lot of respect for the people he was around, and he had a lot of love around him’ I’d be happy. I just want to impact more people’s lives positively. I want to be in a position to open doors not only for myself, but also friends and family,” he declares.
Yet, one question remains: Overall, is Jalen Ramsey winning in life? I’m fairly sure y’all know the answer.
“I definitely would say I’m winning in life, for sure,” he says with a nod. “Even if I wasn’t like this great football player and had all this quote unquote success, I would still say that I’m winning in life. I do everything faith-filled, with love, with a lot of trustworthiness, loyalty, respect, and integrity. I think that’s why I’ve been as successful as I’ve been.”
A winning strategy, to be sure. No trash talk necessary.
WATCH: Rolex
Photo Credit: Mark Squires
