JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – In March, the Jaguars traded veteran cornerback A.J Bouye to the Broncos and by all indications, he was ready to move on.
This week, Bouye said in an interview on Sirus XM NFL Radio that things had gotten so challenging in the locker room, that he didn’t know how to handle it.
“I couldn’t control what was going on in Jacksonville, I tried to keep a positive attitude and kept grinding,” he said.
Bouye spent the last three seasons playing for the Jaguars. In the interview, Bouye said that during his time in Jacksonville it seemed that everything that “could happen, did happen.” Jacksonville finished 6-10 last year and either dealt or cut multiple players in the season or offseason.
And the roster turnover among the team that played in the AFC championship game in 2018 indicates that plenty was wrong internally. Among Jaguars defensive stalwarts remaining from that squad, only defensive tackle Abry Jones, linebacker Myles Jack and defensive end Yannick Ngakoue remain.
“We had a lot of distractions going into the last year and then certain players with the injuries and certain players wanting to get out of there, it was just a lot going on,” Bouye said. “And you just couldn’t point the finger at one thing.”
Late last season, the Jaguars cut ties with the executive vice president of football operations Tom Coughlin after the NFLPA issued a scathing rebuke of the franchise. Bouye mentioned that Coughlin as one of the reasons that players wanted to leave the Jaguars.
“It probably has something to do with certain egos and you know great teams find a way to control that,” he said. “And on top of that you have the Tom Coughlin thing. There was blame pointed at him. I feel like Doug Marrone did a good job of trying to maintain that. I was just never apart of something like that.”
The Jaguars still have one more veteran defender on their roster who would like to play elsewhere next season Ngakoue has still not signed his franchise tender with the team and ESPN recently reported that Ngakoue is still seeking a trade.