Jalen Ramsey was once in Deshaun Watson's shoes, no longer wanting to play for a club for which he was under contract. The corner eventually got his wish and was traded from the Jacksonville Jaguars to the Los Angeles Rams.
Ramsey's situation isn't identical to Watson's for many reasons. Still, the cornerback shares an agent, David Mulugheta, with the QB and certainly understands where Watson is coming from in his desire to move on.
Speaking with NFL Network's Jim Trotter and Steve Wyche on the Huddle & Flow podcast, Ramsey said he doesn't believe Watson will ever play in Houston again.
"Extremely serious, he's extremely serious," Ramsey said of Watson's desire to be traded. "At the end of the day. Deshaun is a great man. A servant leader. Even now when people are trying to crucify him and talk bad on his name, he's still out there doing things for the community in Houston. So he's a great man. He's a professional. He's going to still do things that are positive in the community and probably still help his teammates out.
"But I highly doubt he'll ever suit up in a Texans uniform again. He's very serious. I will say he's very serious. This is his legacy here, I mean, he should be serious."
The Texans have been adamant they have no plans to trade Watson. The 25-year-old quarterback, however, is entrenched in his stance that he wants out, and even the potential of losing millions of dollars in fines and lost income by sitting out hasn't altered that position.
From Ramsey's perspective, the Texans haven't given Watson the input that franchise signal-callers have traditionally garnered.
"I can't speak specifically on his situation just because I'm not there, I'm not him, I don't know exactly about every little detail that's going on. But from my understanding on the outside is, you know, when you're a franchise quarterback, it don't matter what team you're on," Ramsey said. "Really, you want to have a say-so in the team. Essentially it's your team. Especially the best teams, their franchise guys, their quarterback of the team has a say-so in, maybe not the huge decisions, they maybe don't make the final decision, but they for sure have a say-so. The ownership, the coaches, they listen to them. Of course. That's kind of a source of empowerment that teams and organizations give their quarterbacks so they can then go ahead and lead their team and be confident in that. From my understanding, that's not happening with them. I mean, you see other things that have happened with them in the past that are kind of head-scratchers and don't make sense."
Ramsey forcing his way out of Jacksonville isn't identical to what Watson is going through in Houston. Based solely on the position they play, it's different. A top-3 QB has never been traded in his prime. Also, Ramsey hadn't been paid at the time of his trade, whereas Watson is under contract for the foreseeable future.
Ramsey having the same agent as Watson certainly adds to his insight into the situation. The corner noted that one significant similarity between the situations is how both wanted to get out of a circumstance they perceived as bad.
"When I was in Jacksonville, they were so mad at me," he said. "They probably still hate me because I wanted to put myself in a better situation. In the NFL, it's not guaranteed that we're going to have super-long careers. We might only have a certain window to take advantage of and be the best we can and to make the money we can, and to win a Super Bowl. Like yes, we get our contracts and stuff like that, but everybody wants to win a Super Bowl, the great ones do, anyway. We want to leave our legacy. We want to leave our print on this game. I know, for me personally, that was one of my reasons for wanting out of Jacksonville. I didn't see any more growth coming from that. I was unhappy there. I felt some things were not being done the right way, and I needed to transition. I needed to go somewhere else where I could take my game to another level where I felt like I was valued, where I felt like I could win, etc., etc.
"And I feel that's probably what Deshaun is going through as well. He wants to feel valued. He's their franchise guy. Especially at quarterback, especially him. Let's be real. He's one of the best in the game. I'm biased, but I personally would pick him No. 1. I don't care, that's just me, personally. Definitely, he has to feel valued. Everybody wants to feel valued. He has to feel valued. If he's not feeling like he's being valued and he's not getting a say-so and that's something that was talked about prior to his contract and now there's a switch-up, I would want out too. I would want to be in a situation where I could win immediately or in this gap because, like I said, we've got short careers, man. Much power to him, much respect to him. I hope he gets everything that he's wishing and praying for, honestly, man. I hope nothing but success on him."
You can listen to Ramsey's entire interview on the Huddle & Flow podcast here.