Do the Jaguars have a Tom Coughlin problem?

With Jalen Ramsey's trade request hanging over the team, is it time to start wondering where the issues really originate from?

There has been an absolute flurry of national media reports about the Jacksonville Jaguars failed relationship with their best player, Jalen Ramsey, since Ramsey requested a trade out of Jacksonville after Sunday's week 2 13-12 loss to the Houston Texans. 

The trade request came on the heels of a major sideline altercation between Ramsey and head coach Doug Marrone, which Marrone said was because Ramsey wanted his coach to challenge a DeAndre Hopkins catch. 

Due to the timing of the trade request, many assumed he wanted out because of Doug Marrone. The question began being asked: Do the Jaguars have to pick Jalen Ramsey or Doug Marrone? But after Thursday, it is clear that is the wrong question. 

The question instead is, do the Jaguars have to pick between Jalen Ramsey, already one of their most iconic players in team history, or EVP Tom Coughlin, the man who literally built the franchise in the 1990s.

Coughlin has had a toxic relationship toward some players dating back to the 2018 offseason, when he and the front office low-balled Allen Robinson and let the franchise's best offensive player in years leave for basically nothing. Then after week 17, Coughlin publicly blasted running backs Leonard Fournette and T.J. Yeldon for sitting on the bench during the game.

And then this summer, Coughlin once again publicly called out his own players when he criticized Jalen Ramsey and former linebacker Telvin Smith for not being at.... voluntary workouts. He was publicly criticized by the NFLPA and Ramsey's camp after this. 

Throw these situations in along with a perplexing and eventually disastrous payday to former quarterback Blake Bortles and then instances of playing hardball with cornerstone players who have far outperformed their current contracts in Ramsey and defensive end Yannick Ngakoue, and it makes sense why some in the locker room may not be in love with the team's football czar.

And then on Thursday morning, more and more signs began to point away from Doug Marrone being the reason Jalen Ramsey wants out of Duval. Instead, they started pointing directly at Coughlin.

Stephen A. Smith just came on ESPN and said he got a text from a source close to the Jalen situation.

Says it has nothing to do with Doug Marrone

It has everything to do with Tom Coughlin #Jaguars

— Ben Murphy (@BenMurphy__) September 19, 2019

On the 17 weeks podcast by the Undefeated, Ramsey said straightforwardly that his issues with the team were with the front office, and that someone had said something disrespectful to him following the Texans game, which lead to him requesting a trade. Ramsey did not say who said it, but national media reports today continue to indicate it may have been Coughlin.

From @gmfb: More on #Jaguars CB Jalen Ramsey, whose issues are far more with Tom Coughlin than Doug Marrone. Meanwhile, the Jags are willing to pay Ramsey, who knows he'll get paid big-time regardless. pic.twitter.com/SLVG2eNd45

— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) September 20, 2019

And to make that case even stronger that Doug Marrone is not the problem, ESPN's Chris Mortensen, one of the league's most plugged in reporters, said the head coach doesn't want Ramsey to leave. This aligns with Marrone telling local media Wednesday that he feels he and Ramsey have always had a good relationship and put Sunday's incident in the past. 

Same coach who led them in 2017 and the coach does not want him traded.

— Chris Mortensen (@mortreport) September 20, 2019

And if Marrone doesn't have a problem with Ramsey, then maybe it is Coughlin and ownership? According to Ian Rapoport of NFL Network however, this isn't the case. 

"Also worth noting that owner Shad Khan loves Ramsey, would be willing, from what I understand, to pay him and make him the highest-paid cornerback in the NFL as soon as he possibly can," Rapoport said. "There is a lot of love here. So, for the Jacksonville Jaguars to part with Ramsey they're going to have to be convinced, overwhelmed that it's the right move."

So if Ramsey's issues are not with the coaching staff, and the coaching staff and ownership seem to still want him around, what else could it be? 

Owner Shad Khan has had to make countless difficult decisions since purchasing the team in 2011, but this next one may be his largest. 

It is unclear what the team will do, when/if Ramsey will be traded and what really is ahead for the team's relationship with their best player. But it has become obvious that Ramsey, and potentially other players, can no longer coexist with the man who helped architect the Jaguars several decades ago. 

It seems more and more each day that only one of these sides will stay for the long haul, and that begs the ultimate question facing this team.

Will it be Jalen Ramsey or Tom Coughlin?