Jordan Jenkins
Jordan Montae Jenkins (born July 1, 1994) is an American football outside linebacker for the New York Jets of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Georgia, and was drafted by the Jets in the third round of the 2016 NFL Draft.
Jenkins in 2019 | |||||||||||||||
No. 48 – New York Jets | |||||||||||||||
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Position: | Outside linebacker | ||||||||||||||
Personal information | |||||||||||||||
Born: | Houston, Texas | July 1, 1994||||||||||||||
Height: | 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) | ||||||||||||||
Weight: | 260 lb (118 kg) | ||||||||||||||
Career information | |||||||||||||||
High school: | Harris County (Hamilton, Georgia) | ||||||||||||||
College: | Georgia | ||||||||||||||
NFL Draft: | 2016 / Round: 3 / Pick: 83 | ||||||||||||||
Career history | |||||||||||||||
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Roster status: | Active | ||||||||||||||
Career NFL statistics as of 2020 | |||||||||||||||
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Early years
Jenkins attended Harris County High School in Hamilton, Georgia. He was a four-star recruit by Rivals.com and was rated among the top defensive end recruits in his class.[1] He committed to the University of Georgia to play college football.[2][3]
College career
As a true freshman at Georgia in 2012, Jenkins played in 14 games and made six starts at outside linebacker. He recorded 31 tackles and five sacks.[4] As a 13-game starter his sophomore year in 2013, Jenkins had 45 tackles and five sacks.[5] Jenkins again started all 13 games his junior year in 2014, recording 70 tackles and five sacks.[6] After he considered entering the 2015 NFL Draft, Jenkins announced that he would return for his senior year.[7]
Professional career
Coming out of Georgia, Jenkins was considered one of the top linebacker prospects and received an invitation to the NFL combine. He attended the combine and completed the majority of drills until he suffered a hamstring injury that made him unable to perform the short shuttle and three-cone drill. Coincidentally, teammate Leonard Floyd also injured his hamstring at the combine and was unable to perform the three-cone and short shuttle. On March 16, 2016, he opted to participate at Georgia's pro day, along with Leonard Floyd, Malcolm Mitchell, John Theus, Keith Marshall, Marshall Morgan, Sterling Bailey, Quayvon Hicks, and ten other players. Jenkins completed the short shuttle and three-cone drill, while also running positional drills and lowering his time in the 40-yard dash. He also elevated his vertical to 38" and increased his number of reps on the bench press to 19.[8] He was projected to be a third round pick by the majority of NFL draft experts and scouts. After he completed the pre-draft process, Jenkins was ranked as the eighth best linebacker prospect in the draft by NFL analyst Mike Mayock, the ninth best outside linebacker by NFLDraftScout.com, the ninth best linebacker by ESPN, and was ranked the 11th best linebacker by Sports Illustrated.[9][10][11][12]
Height | Weight | Arm length | Hand size | 40-yard dash | 10-yard split | 20-yard split | 20-yard shuttle | Three-cone drill | Vertical jump | Broad jump | Bench press | |
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6 ft 2 5⁄8 in (1.90 m) |
259 lb (117 kg) |
34 1⁄4 in (0.87 m) |
11 1⁄4 in (0.29 m) | 4.80 s | 1.58 s | 2.74 s | 4.32 s | 7.39 s | 36 in (0.91 m) | 10 ft 1 in (3.07 m) | 16 reps | |
All values from NFL Combine/Georgia Bulldogs' Pro Day[13] |
Jenkins was drafted by the New York Jets in the third round (83rd overall) in the 2016 NFL Draft.[14] Jenkins was the second linebacker drafted by the Jets in 2016 behind Darron Lee (first round, 20th overall) and was the ninth linebacker selected in the entire draft. Fellow Georgia linebacker and teammate, Leonard Floyd, was selected in the first round (ninth overall) by the Chicago Bears.
2016
He competed with Trevor Reilly, Lorenzo Mauldin, and Deion Barnes throughout training camp for the one of the jobs as starting outside linebacker.[15] Head coach Todd Bowles named him one of the starting outside linebackers to start the season, opposite Lorenzo Mauldin.
He suffered a calf injury in mid-August and was unable to play in the first two games of the season.[16] On September 25, 2016, Jenkins made his professional regular season debut and first career start, recording five combined tackles in a 24–3 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs. During a Week 14 matchup against the San Francisco 49ers, he recorded four combined tackles and was credited with a half a sack on Colin Kaepernick in the Jets' 23–17 overtime victory.[17] The next game, Jenkins collected five combined tackles and made his first career solo sack on Miami Dolphins' quarterback Matt Moore, as the Jets lost 34–13.[18] Jenkins finished the 2016 season with 41 combined tackles (23 solo), 2.5 sacks, a forced fumble and two passes defensed in 11 starts and 14 games.
2017
Jenkins returned as the de facto outside linebacker under Todd Bowles to start the 2017 season. In the New York Jets' season-opener at the Buffalo Bills, Jenkins recorded a season-high four solo tackles in the Jets' 12–21 loss. On November 2, 2017, he earned two solo tackles, sacked Buffalo Bills' quarterback Tyrod Taylor twice, and forced the first fumble of his career, as the Jets won 34–21 on Thursday Night Football. He was named the AFC Defensive Player of the Week for his performance in Week 9.[19]
References
- Rivals.com
- Big recruiting win for Georgia: Jordan Jenkins commits
- Recruit 411: Jordan Jenkins
- UGA's Jenkins has big shoes to fill at outside linebacker
- Athletic linebacker Jenkins entering prime of his career
- Jordan Jenkins returns to lead relentless pass rush of Georgia Bulldogs
- Jordan Jenkins explores NFL options, chooses to return to UGA
- Barrett Sallee (March 16, 2016). "Georgia Pro Day 2016: Live Results for Leonard Floyd, Keith Marshall and More". bleacherreport.com. Retrieved November 17, 2017.
- Chris Burke (April 12, 2016). "2016 NFL Draft Position Rankings". si.com. Retrieved November 17, 2017.
- "Jordan Jenkins, DS #9 OLB, Georgia". nfldraftscout.com. Retrieved November 17, 2017.
- Jeff Legwold (April 25, 2016). "Ranking the draft's Top 100 Players". ESPN.com. Retrieved November 17, 2017.
- Mike Mayock (April 27, 2016). "Mayock's top 100 draft prospect rankings". NFL.com. Retrieved November 17, 2017.
- "NFL Draft Profile: Jordan Jenkins". NFL.com. Retrieved November 17, 2017.
- Slater, Darryl. "OLB Jordan Jenkins drafted by Jets". NJ.com. New Jersey News. Retrieved April 29, 2016.
- "Ourlads.com: New York Jets' depth chart: 08/01/2016". Ourlads.com. Retrieved November 17, 2017.
- "Jets' Jordan Jenkins: Sidelined Week 1". cbssports.com. Retrieved November 18, 2017.
- "NFL Game Center: Week 14-2016: New York Jets @ San Francisco 49ers". NFL.com. Retrieved November 18, 2017.
- "NFL Game Center: Week 14-2016: Miami Dolphins @ New York Jets". NFL.com. Retrieved November 18, 2017.
- Shook, Nick (November 8, 2017). "T.Y. Hilton, Jared Goff among NFL Players of the Week". NFL.com.
- "Jordan Jenkins Re-Signs with Jets". NewYorkJets.com. April 23, 2020. Retrieved April 23, 2020.
- Greenberg, Ethan (December 16, 2020). "Jets Place OLB Jordan Jenkins, S Saquan Hampton on Injured Reserve". NewYorkJets.com.