Janoris Jenkins: Rams players aren’t allowed to speak to Kroenke

Janoris Jenkins: Rams players aren’t allowed to speak to Stan Kroenke

Mike Florio

Janoris Jenkins: Rams players aren’t allowed to speak to Stan Kroenke

As the Rams embark on their search for a new coach, a former Rams player had some interesting comments about the man who signs the checks in L.A.

Appearing on Going Deep with Amani & Dan on NBC Sports Radio, Giants cornerback Janoris Jenkins compared his current team to the Rams, where he spent his first four NFL seasons.

“It’s a big difference, to be honest with you,” Jenkins said. “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. 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 to here in New York, everybody is everybody, everybody is treated the same, the owner just walks around and communicates with you and gives you a reason to play football to know that you’re playing for someone that is always around and always cares and that you can communicate with.”

Jenkins, who apparently seems to think Jerry Reese owns the Giants, explained that the bizarre warning to not talk to Kroenke affected the player’s ability to feel comfortable in the organization.

“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,” Jenkins said. “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.”

It’s definitely bizarre. If Kroenke has no desire to interact with the players, why be around the team at all? And if he has no desire to be around the team, why own it?