Safety Malcolm Jenkins Says Good-Bye

Eagles decided to part ways with the veteran safety, and Jenkins wrote a farewell in the Players Tribune, which is well worth the read and can be found here.

https://www.theplayerstribune.com/en-us/articles/malcolm-jenkins-philly-can-we-still-be-friends-eagles

Eagles fans wanted Jairus Byrd to play safety back in 2014. Instead, they got Malcolm Jenkins.

Jenkins went on to play in 96 straight games, played every single snap except for 96 of them in that time.

Simply put, the was one of the best – if not the best - free agent pickups the Eagles ever made since the NFL implemented its free agency system in March 1, 1993. Jenkins belongs right up there with Nick Foles, Jon Runyan, and Troy Vincent.

Everything comes to an end, however, and Jenkins’ time with the Eagles is over after he the team decided not to pick up his team option $7.6 million contract for 2020. Jenkins wasn’t going to play for that, and the two sides were unable to agree on proper compensation.

A day after Jenkins hit free agency, he was signed by the team that drafted him and regretted letting him walk away in free agency seven years ago, the New Orleans Saints.

Jenkins penned a farewell to Philly and its fans in The Players Tribune.

Philly,
I will miss you.#FlyEaglesFly https://t.co/mKeuENBjKn

— Malcolm Jenkins (@MalcolmJenkins) March 21, 2020

“I remember when I signed with the Eagles, back in 2014…. man, I’ll never forget the reactions to that news,” Jenkins wrote. “Every time I turned on the TV or the radio, or I’d read some article, it was like — Couldn’t we have just signed so and so? Or, I’d much rather us have this player over there. Y’all weren’t very excited about Malcolm Jenkins, that much I know.

“And I remember thinking to myself, ‘Well, if the gold standard at safety in Philadelphia is Brian Dawkins, then I can understand the concern.’ But I also knew that I was going to give this team everything I had.”

It’s a poignant good-bye and well worth the read, and the one thing you will notice is the omission in his thank you. 

He thanked owner Jeffrey Lurie, coach Doug Pederson and defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz, but not general manager Howie Roseman, which is probably fine – somebody has to be the bad guy.