It’s no secret that the Jacksonville Jaguars developed an internal mess after their 2017 season, which almost resulted in the franchise’s first Super Bowl berth. Of course, the easiest issue to point out was former executive Tom Coughlin, however, it went beyond him, too.
To pile on to the issues in the front office, the Jags had players in the locker room getting the big head and there were a few reported altercations as well. All of that led to a dismantling this offseason, including the departure of one of their better locker room players in A.J. Bouye via trade.
Now, as a Denver Bronco, Bouye has had time to reflect on exactly what went wrong in the Jags’ locker room. He shared those thoughts in a recent interview with Sirius XM Radio, expressing that the Jags’ environment was like none he’s been a part of in the process of playing for three teams.
“I just never was a part of something like that,” Bouye said via SiriusXM NFL Radio. “Being in Houston before that and even seeing how the guys in Denver just gelling together with the chemistry between the players and the coaches. It was just something different and I didn’t know how to handle that. […] It was so many things. From fighting in the locker room and disagreements to people wanting to be gone, I’ve just never seen that before.”
Additionally, Bouye pointed to the Jags’ defensive scheme being predictable under Todd Wash and Coughlin’s rocky relationship with certain players.
In 2019, the issues really flared up when Jalen Ramsey demanded a trade from the team after the Jags’ Week 2 loss to the Houston Texans. The former all-pro had a meeting after that game with Coughlin and some others, which left him feeling disrespected by what at least one person in that meeting had to say. Ramsey played in the game that followed against the Tennessee Titans, but missed the remaining games he was on the roster before he was traded to the Los Angeles Rams.
After that situation, the NFLPA came down hard on the Jags by warning players of the excessive fines that the team had handed out to players on the roster. There were also some preseason issues that occurred like the abrupt retirement of linebacker Telvin Smith and the mishandling of Yannick Ngakoue’s contract extension.
When reflecting on all that went on over the past two years, fans may be more happy than anything for Bouye as he got a fresh start. As for the Jags, they removed a lot of toxic factors from the team, too, which hopefully will get them on the right track again.