Giants cornerback Janoris Jenkins says Rams players were told not to speak to owner Stan Kroenke
Jenkins, who left the Rams after signing a five-year, $62 million deal with the Giants this past offseason, said on "Going Deep with Amani & Dan" on NBC Sports Radio that Rams players were told not to talk to owner Stan Kroenke if he was around.
Though Jenkins seemed to confuse Giants GM Jerry Reese for the team's owner, according to Pro Football Talk, he said he enjoys the open culture around the Giants much more.
"Just being here in New York and seeing [G.M.] Jerry Reese every day at practice, it just motivates me because I never seen that in St. Louis," Jenkins said. "It was always the coaches not the owners coming around to see the players. It was always, 'Don't speak to Stan Kroenke' when I was in St. Louis..."
Jenkins continued, explaining the odd atmosphere around the Rams:
"I felt I was just playing for my teammates and my coaches, I never seen the owner. Once again, they told us not to speak to him when he come around and I just felt like I wasn't comfortable there. They said, if you ever see Stan come around the facility don't speak to him. Once I heard that my rookie year I just knew I wasn't going to be comfortable, because when he came around it was like everybody better be straightforward nobody better not look at him, it was like kind of crazy."
Though owners in professional sports are not always close to the team, this seems to be one of the first times a player has said that the team was forbidden to speak to the owner. If Jenkins' account is true, it certainly speaks to the discord in the franchise.