Free Agency Profile: What Could OLB Jordan Jenkins Bring to the Giants Defense?

The Jets apparently don't have much interest in re-signing OLB Jordan Jenkins. So what, could he bring to the Giants if he signs here?

As expected, the Giants are desperately looking to upgrade their pass rush, and according to an SNY report, one potential target could be outside linebacker Jordan Jenkins, the 25-year-old from the Jets.

A former third-round selection in 2016, Jenkins has amassed 20.5 sacks (8 in 2019), 22 tackles for a loss, and 89 tackles throughout his career.

With the first domino of the 2020 free-agent EDGE class having already fallen--Bills’ first-round pick Shaq Lawson signed a 3-year, $30 million deal with the Dolphins--given that Jenkins has been more productive and more reliable, his price tag is expected to be north of $10 million APY.

Since the fit makes sense, I wanted to dive into some of Jenkins' tape and give a quick report on the player.

At 6-foot 3, 259 pounds, Jenkins has solid overall size and frame with ridiculously long 34¼” arms and huge catchers mitts he calls hands at 11¼” which is 94th and 99th percentiles respectively.

He doesn’t wow anyone with extreme sideline to sideline range or athletic ability. He does have a solid first three steps and a quick first step up the arc, and he possesses good short-area quickness and overall explosiveness.

Jenkins isn’t overly flexible in his lower half, but he utilizes power and bull-rushing to gain advantages against an offensive lineman.

Three of his 2019 sacks are in the video above. The first comes against the Giants’ Nate Solder from a wide position. Solder does a good job getting in position to execute his block, but this is where the length and power of Jenkins come into play.

Jenkins makes initial contact with his inside arm and gets underneath Solder’s pads while uncoiling his hips through the blocking attempt to maximize the generation of power. Jenkins then uses his length to create space on Solder, sees where Daniel Jones is located, and assists Jamal Adams in recording the half-sack. 

The second clip shows Jenkins as a 4-technique going up against a rookie tackle in #71 Ryan Bates. Jenkins attempts to go inside but has no leverage, so he works outside, using his powerful hands to swat Bates’ arms off him to keep his chest clean. 

Jenkins then shows some hip flexion by bending around Bates, dipping his inside shoulder, and angling his hips towards the quarterback. Bates does an inferior job setting up the arc, and Jenkins exposes that with a sack. 

The third sack was on a very well executed stunt, and Jenkins took an angle good enough to cut off Ryan Fitzpatrick for the sack.

Above, as most of us unfortunately remember, Jenkins takes advantage of Eric Smith, who wasn’t ready to play for the Giants. 

Jenkins goes from power to finesse by jolting Smith back with an initial bullrush, gains the half-man advantage, and then pulls/swims over the top of Smith to win the edge. 

The second clip is against Cameron Fleming of the Cowboys. Jenkins goes for the bullrush, but allows Fleming to make initial contact; in doing so, Fleming becomes off-balanced, cause he’s not centered and his center of gravity becomes exposed up the arc. 

Jenkins, being the smart pass rusher that he is, uses an outside arm club, to further Fleming’s balance issue, and then swims over the top and around. Jenkins' lack of bend results in the elongated path at the top of the arc, but Prescott flows outside the pocket, giving the angle to Jenkins on the far side, resulting in a sack. 

The last sack was on a broken play from Ryan Fitzpatrick rushing out of the pocket and Jenkins utilizing his excellent tackle radius to earn the sack.

The Giants have a familiar face for Jenkins on the roster in Leonard Williams. Jenkins and Williams were teammates on the Jets since 2016 when Jenkins was drafted, and they’ve had success together. Since the Giants just franchise tagged Williams, it may be possible that they’re reunited in the same city, wearing a different color.

(Note: The arrow is Jordan Jenkins, and the red circle is Leonard Williams.)

Jenkins is lined up wide, as the unblocked backside defender, in the first clip. Williams and Jenkins team up for the tackle at the line of scrimmage; the former flows with his block, winning the leverage battle and showing an impressive bend in his hips to locate the ball carrier in the opposite B-Gap.

The latter does a good job crashing down the line of scrimmage to assist the tackle as the backside pursuit defender. Then Jenkins beats #73 Dion Dawkins badly as the wide rusher.

Dawkins lunges at Jenkins in space, while Jenkins was going to bullrush; Jenkins just double swipes Dawkins’ outside shoulder and removes him from the equation to allow himself to get the sack.

Here’s some 2018 film of Jenkins and Williams working together. For context, Bowles was the defensive coordinator in 2018. He ran an aggressive 3-4 base defense with a lot of man coverage elements.

Bowles showcased and maximized Leonard Williams, who fit well in the system that is more familiar and akin to Patrick Graham's defense. While not the same, Bowles and Graham’s defense have some similarities, whereas Gregg Williams’ defense is a 4-3 attacking unit that is more different than Graham’s and did not account for Leonard Williams as an essential factor.

In the first clip, you see Leonard Williams as the 3-technique over the outside shoulder of the guard; that positioning forced the tackle #74, Chris Hubbard, to respect Williams enough to allow Jenkins to gain steps on the edge.

Williams' respect, combined with some sort of miscommunication on a weak line, allowed for Jenkins to go unphased towards Baker Mayfield.

The second clip shows Williams as the end man on the line of scrimmage to the weak side and Jenkins. Tight ends block both players, a significant problem for the Texans, and both win the edge.

Williams forces Deshaun Watson to step up in the pocket, which is where Jenkins nails the stud quarterback. Again, two more clips of how these players had success with each other.

Jenkins is a strong pass rusher who lacks excellent athletic traits and tends not to defeat good competition. As a pass rusher, he’s strong at the point of attack, plays with good leverage, and has enough pass-rushing moves to win the edge outside, but that lack of flexibility will make it hard for him to corner against better tackles.

He’s a solid run defender who has a high football IQ. He is a strong tackler that can set the edge and not get bullied off the line of scrimmage. Jenkins is not fleet of foot and isn’t great in coverage, due to the athletic limitations.

If the Giants do sign Jenkins, he’ll be reunited with Leonard Williams. The two players would fit well with defensive coordinator Patrick Graham’s defense.

In Todd Bowles' system (2016-18), Williams and Jenkins both stunted and blitzed often, precipitating pressures and feeding off of each other.

The number being floated around for Jenkins is approximately $10-12 million per year. As of right now, that puts him in the top 10 “3-4 OLB” in the league, according to OverTheCap.

As I’ve been saying, with the cap growing every year, it’s not terrible. Quality players get paid in free agency, there’s no doubt about it. If the Giants sign Jordan Jenkins, it would be a quality addition, but far from the number one pass rusher that the Giants have been hoping to find.

He would slide in alongside Lorenzo Carter and Oshane Ximines, which is much needed, but that would likely spell the end of Markus Golden's Giants career. The Jenkins addition will be welcomed, but can’t be viewed as the ultimate fix to the pass rush.

(Clips via NFL Game Pass.)