Giants were right to cut CB Janoris Jenkins after offensive Twitter slur

The Giants made the right call in releasing cornerback Janoris Jenkins regarding a highly offensive Twitter slur.

On Friday morning, the Giants announced the release of cornerback Janoris Jenkins, two days after the veteran engaged in a Twitter beef with a fan in which he used a highly offensive slur.

“This was an organizational decision,” coach Pat Shurmur said in a statement. “From ownership to management to our football operations, we felt it was in the best interests of the franchise and the player. Obviously, what happened this week, and the refusal to acknowledge the inappropriate and offensive language, was the determining factor.”

Jenkins was asked in the team’s locker room on Thursday to explain what he did, and his explanation didn’t hold much water.

“I never said it was right,” Jenkins said. “I said it was slang that I use back at home… Yeah, I regret it. But at the end of the day, it’s my slang, so if you take it how you’re going to take it, then that’s on you.

“I don’t mean to offend nobody. My daddy always told me, ‘Speak freely and own up to what you say.’ So I always speak freely as a man, and I speak how I want to speak.”

Jenkins certainly has the right to speak how he wants to speak, but freedom of speech generally doesn’t excuse one from the consequences of what is said. Moreover, Jenkins apparently sent the tweet during a Giants practice that he was not part of due to an ankle injury.

Selected by the Rams in the second round of the 2012 draft out of North Alabama, Jenkins signed a five-year, $62.5 million free agent contract with the New York Giants on March 9, 2016.

The Giants are currently 2-11, on pace for their worst win total since the 1973 and 1974 seasons, when they went 2-11-1 and 2-12-0, respectively. The likelihood of Jenkins being on this roster in 2020, the last year of his current contract, was not good. He had a $14.75 million cap hit in 2019, and the same in 2020, with only a $3.5 million dead cap penalty for cutting him next year.

When healthy this season, Jenkins has played well for the most part. Among cornerbacks playing at least 50% of their defensive snaps, Jenkins ranks 12th with an opponent passer rating allowed of 68.9, per Pro Football Focus. He’s allowed 38 receptions on 71 targets for 538 yards, three touchdowns, and four interceptions. All three of those touchdowns allowed came in the Giants’ Week 2 loss to the Buccaneers, when Jenkins was absolutely shredded by receiver Mike Evans. Take that game out, and he’s actually been one of the NFL’s best cornerbacks on a really bad defense.

If he’s able to get past the ankle injury he suffered in the Giants’ Monday night loss to the Eagles, Jenkins will be a highly attractive option for any potential playoff contender, especially those teams in desperate need of a cornerback who can legitimately shadow No. 1 receivers — which was one of Jenkins’ bones of contention with defensive coordinator James Bettcher. So, in the end, Jenkins’ “punishment” for this slur, and his lack of awareness regarding its effects, could very well be to land with a much better team just in time for a playoff run.

Based on his Twitter response after his release, Jenkins appears well aware of this.