Malcolm Jenkins Wants a New Contract
PHILADELPHIA – Malcolm Jenkins hasn’t felt this uncertain about his future since the 2013 season ended. He had just completed his fourth season with the Saints and ended up leaving as a free agent months after cleaning out his locker in New Orleans.
Jenkins was cleaning out his locker at the Eagles’ training facility on Monday and he had that same feeling of uncertainty about whether he will be back with the Eagles for the 2020 season. The Eagles safety knows this—he won’t return on the contract he played under this year.
“I won’t be back on the same deal,” said Jenkins. “That won’t happen. I think like anything else you set your value on the market. The market is good for safeties right now. I consider myself being in the top tier of that group and I’d like to be compensated for it.”
Jenkins just turned 32 on Dec. 20, and he is coming off yet another season where he played all the Eagles’ defensive snaps.
As players around him have gotten injured this season and, for the previous couple of seasons, really, Jenkins has remained available and reliable. He has played all 16 games plus the playoffs since arriving as a free agent in 2014. That is 96 straight games.
“I let my soul bleed every time I touch the field,” said Jenkins. “I sacrifice myself and do whatever I’m asked to do, so I’m content with doing my part and the rest will just fall where it does.”
There are 10 safeties that make more than Jenkins, who has one year left on his contract that carries a base salary of $7.6 million.
Jenkins led the team in tackles this season with 118 and forced four fumbles, recovering one, and tied his career-high in sacks with 2.5 and added another to that total with a sack of Russell Wilson in Sunday’s season-ending 17-9 loss to the Seattle Seahawks.
“I’m certain that things will work out however they’re supposed to,” said Jenkins. “I feel I’ve done everything I can. Those things tend to work those things out. I’m not one to beg. I’m a very prideful person. What I put out there this year, what I put on tape, what I’ve given to this team is more than enough. I can’t do anymore. I feel good about that. That will be good enough for me to go into this offseason with certainty that I’ll be fine.”
The Eagles could be in a quandary at the safety position, because Rodney McLeod is a free agent and their third safety is Marcus Epps.
Jenkins expressed displeasure over his contract in the spring, when he chose not to show up for the team’s voluntary OTAs. Jenkins did not hold out of training camp, however.
Owner Jeffrey Lurie and Jenkins met, and at that time Lurie seemed to ease Jenkins’s mind about his future. There haven’t been any recent conversations between the owner and safety.
“Verbally I know what I mean to the team and the organization in context of the 2019 season, but as far as the future I don’t know,” said Jenkins. “I have a great relationship with Mr. Lurie, but we haven’t talked personally about any contract since the spring.”
The Eagles tend to show loyalty to their players, with left tackle Jason Peters and the now-retired Darren Sproles being two recent examples. But on a team that has regressed since winning a Super Bowl just two years ago, management may want to take a closer look at that business model, and that look could begin with Jenkins.
