Tag: Malcolm Jenkins

Malcolm Jenkins retiring should prompt Saints to call up Tyrann Mathieu

The Saints won’t have Marcus Williams and Malcolm Jenkins in the secondary, but pairing Marcus Maye with Tyrann Mathieu could be the right move:

There has to be another shoe about to drop on Malcolm Jenkins’ decision to retire from the NFL. Right now, the New Orleans Saints are running thin at safety; players under contract for 2022 include C.J. Gardner-Johnson, Marcus Maye, and special teamers J.T. Gray and Daniel Sorensen. It’s rough, and it should push the Saints to look again to free agency — starting with Tyrann Mathieu, the best safety available.

Gardner-Johnson has almost exclusively played over the slot for New Orleans, and while Sorensen has started before he’s playing on a minimum salary and shouldn’t be expected to get many minutes on defense. Maye is still recovering from Achilles surgery and could be suspended early in the season stemming from a DUI arrest last year. They need at least one more player.

Mathieu feels like an easy fit in New Orleans. Beyond his hometown hero status, he’s a three-time All-Pro who can fill many of the same play responsibilities that Jenkins has done. The Saints like to run two safeties together, and while Marcus Williams gave them enough range to patrol the top on his own Dennis Allen has expressed a preference for having two players with interchangeable skills sets. Mathieu and Maye could accomplish that as safeties with experience playing all over the field.

It’s not like the Saints don’t have enough cap space to go chase Mathieu. They’re under the salary cap by as much as $21.6 million, and losing both of their starting safeties in the same offseason is a good reason to invest in two of the best free agents available. We know that Mathieu has been on the radar for a few weeks now (and the feeling is said to be mutual). Allen could point to his two veteran safeties as a pair of capable starters who can right the ship in the secondary, keeping Gardner-Johnson in his best spot.

Some fans may worry about the impact a Mathieu signing would have on the 2023 compensatory draft pick formula, but the Saints have already shown us they aren’t prioritizing that by signing Andy Dalton to wipe out a projected third round pick. Signing Maye in the first place took a fourth rounder off the board, too. If the Saints aren’t planning on getting any comp picks anyway, they may as well lean into it and bring in Mathieu. Considering how dangerous things could get with such a major, unaddressed need on the roster going into the draft, they may not have a choice.

[listicle id=110301]

2-time Super Bowl champion Malcolm Jenkins announces his retirement from the NFL

2-time Super Bowl champion Malcolm Jenkins announces his retirement from the NFL

Wow: New Orleans Saints safety Malcolm Jenkins announced Wednesday that he is retiring from pro football on his own terms, sharing the news on the Pivot podcast with. Jenkins, 34, won Super Bowl XLIV with the Saints and earned another championship in Super Bowl LII with the Philadelphia Eagles before returning to where his career started.

It makes sense for him. Jenkins is stepping away from football in great health and with a wide variety of other business interests to pursue as an investor and entrepreneur. Not many guys get to choose their opportunity like this.

But for the Saints, this opens a tremendous vacancy in their secondary — Jenkins led the team in defense snaps played last season. His teammate, Marcus Williams, ranked third. The team explicitly hired Dennis Allen to maintain defensive continuity. That’s going to be tough with two of his three top players leaving the building.

[listicle id=110918]

Former Eagles DB Malcolm Jenkins announces his retirement from the NFL

Former #Eagles and #OhioState #Buckeyes DB #MalcolmJenkins told #RyanClark and the #PivotPodcast that’s he’s retiring from the #NFL after 13 seasons

Former Eagles and current Saints safety Malcolm Jenkins is retiring from the NFL after 13 seasons, making the announcement on the Pivot Podcast with Ryan Clark, Channing Crowder and Fred Taylor.

Jenkins recently restructured his contract for the Saints during their cost cutting moves, and now the three-time Pro Bowler will focus on his activism, fashion, and off the field ventures.

“I’ve been playing football since I was 7 years old, and I’ve accomplished so much in that time,” Jenkins told The Associated Press. “When I set out to have my career, I wanted to change the game or at least have an impact on the game, not only on the field but off the field. … Made the Pro Bowls and had all the accolades and really I felt I left a mark on the game that was my own unique way, and I think, at this point, I’m really excited to pour all that energy and effort that I put into excelling in football into doing some of the other things in life, some of the projects that I have a passion for and it’s just that time for me.”

A cornerback at Ohio State, Jenkins was selected by the Saints in the first round of the 2009 draft and converted to his safety position. A true hybrid performer, Jenkins thrived in his STAR role, making three Pro Bowls, and also taking on a key leadership role during the Eagles Super Bowl run.

[listicle id=665076]

[listicle id=665009]

[lawrence-related id=665063,665059,665037,665024,665020]

Malcolm Jenkins, Bradley Roby took pay cuts in reworked contracts

Malcolm Jenkins and Bradley Roby took pay cuts in reworked contracts, introducing more intrigue to the Saints secondary. Could Jenkins be weighing retirement?

So this is interesting. The Athletic’s Katherine Terrell first reported details of several restructured contracts for New Orleans Saints players in the team’s push to get under the 2022 salary cap by a considerable margin, with some of the biggest details involving veteran defensive backs Malcolm Jenkins and Bradley Roby.

For Jenkins, Terrell reports, the changes are considerable. Jenkins took a pay cut to reduce his base salary to the league minimum in both 2022 ($1.12 million) and 2023 ($1.165 million), the final two years of his contract. Unlike most restructures, he did not receive a signing bonus and no void years were added. This is the same maneuver the Saints took with Drew Brees prior to his retirement to help ease the salary cap hit once he was ready to step away from the game.

Jenkins, 34, could also be considering retirement. He’s won two Super Bowls in two different NFL cities and has wide-ranging business interests outside of football. There’s another shoe waiting to drop unless he’s planning to play out his deal while earning the veteran’s minimum. Whether that means retirement or an extension (which the Saints would have done in the first place) is unclear. If he does decide it’s time to retire from football, the Saints could designate him a post-June 1 cut (again, as they did with Brees) and carry minimal dead money charges of $3.95 million in 2022 and 2023.

Of course then the Saints would have to replace Jenkins, who led the team in defensive snaps played last season (1,041), but they’re also working in a new starting free safety in Marcus Williams (whose 1,036 snaps played ranked third-most in 2021). They could promote slot corner C.J. Gardner-Johnson to the starting strong safety job, partnering him with free agent pickup Marcus Maye, assuming he isn’t part of their proposed trade package for Deshaun Watson. They could also pursue another free agent like Tyrann Mathieu, who has handled a similar range of responsibilities to Jenkins as a positionless defender before. Re-signing backup safety P.J. Williams or drafting a replacement are other options. Whatever the case, losing Jenkins would introduce even more changes for a Saints defense that was billed as the team’s strength just a few months ago.

But let’s talk about Roby. Terrell also reported that Roby took a pay cut (like Jenkins, to the veteran’s minimum at $1.12 million) and added two real years to his contract in an extension. This means he’ll be a free agent in 2025, when he’s 33 years old. He’s scheduled to play on a $3 million salary in both 2023 and 2024, with $500,000 in per-game roster bonuses available each season.

He was slated to make $9.5 million from the Saints in 2022, which made him a cut candidate given his low snaps count behind Marshon Lattimore and Paulson Adebo. Now, he gets to stay in New Orleans on a more appropriate pay grade and can earn up to $8.12 million over the next three years if he’s active each week. Unlike Jenkins, though, there are two void years added to Roby’s contract for salary cap purposes. If nothing changes between now and this deal’s expiration, he’ll leave a little over $1.12 million behind in dead money in 2025.

The end result to all of these salary cap navigations? Instead of counting for a combined $21.8 million against the cap in 2021, Jenkins and Roby are now on the books for just $6.83 million. That went a long way towards opening up salary cap space for the Saints to put towards trading for Watson or any other moves they’re setting up this offseason. Remember, we’re only seeing part of the plan right now. Until some more action is taken, all we can do is look at the facts and the numbers and wait.

[listicle id=110301]

Buckeyes in the NFL: Notable former Ohio State football players Week 17 defensive performances

Buckeyes in the NFL: Notable former Ohio State football players Week 17 defensive performances. #GoBucks

The Ohio State Buckeyes just completed their 2021 season with a Rose Bowl victory over the Utah Utes. Despite the win being extremely close and the defense once again being less than stellar, there were a few positives. The biggest one is that the Ohio State passing attack looks to be electric and already ready for 2022.

With all that said, with the completion of the Ohio State season, we can move on to focus more on what former Buckeye stars and legend are doing in the NFL and this Sunday was a big one for a few studs. This list is so big we have split it into two with this one focusing on the defense.

Malcolm Jenkins and Juwan Johnson cleared from COVID-19 protocols

Some reinforcements are on the way: Malcolm Jenkins and Juwan Johnson have been cleared from COVID-19 protocols

Some reinforcements are on the way for the New Orleans Saints: starting safety Malcolm Jenkins and backup tight end Juwan Johnson have both been cleared from the COVID-19 reserve list, per Tuesday’s update to the daily NFL transactions wire.

And more help could be on the way ahead of Sunday’s Week 17 game with the Carolina Panthers after the NFL and NFLPA adjusted their protocols to reflect the latest guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Asymptomatic individuals may now return to work after five days, not ten, regardless of vaccination status.

That’s big news for a Saints team that lost to the Miami Dolphins on Monday night in part because of an outbreak that sidelined nearly two dozen players, including their top two quarterbacks and all three starting linebackers, plus an important on-field leader in Jenkins.

It’s frustrating that this change was initiated after the Saints-Dolphins game, but it honestly wouldn’t have made much of a difference for New Orleans. Only two players entered COVID protocols prior to that five-day window which would have allowed them to play, in Johnson and tight end Adam Trautman. All of the other Saints players on the list missed the cut and wouldn’t have cleared protocol in enough time to play on Dec. 27, including Jenkins.

Fortunately they should have ample time to get right in time for Jan. 2’s matchup with Carolina. And with a playoffs berth still within reach, New Orleans needs all the help it can get.

[listicle id=61680]

Malcolm Jenkins, Taysom Hill among 9 Saints entering COVID-19 protocols

Malcolm Jenkins, Taysom Hill and Trevor Siemian among 9 Saints entering COVID-19 protocols

The New Orleans Saints sent a small crowd of players to the COVID-19 reserve list on Thursday, including two of their top three quarterbacks and a starting safety. It’s going to be a very difficult situation for the team to manage ahead of their Week 16 prime-time game with the Miami Dolphins on Monday night.

But that added day could create a buffer for some vaccinated players to clear protocol in returning two negative tests within 48 hours, though any unvaccinated players must sit out a full ten days. Hopefully everyone is only dealing with minor symptoms and can return to health soon.

Still, we shouldn’t expect anyone to return in time for kickoff. Here are the nine players joining tight ends Juwan Johnson and Adam Trautman on COVID-19 reserve:

Former Ohio State star, Malcolm Jenkins named Dungy-Thompson Award Recipient

Former Ohio State Star honored with prestigious humanitarian award.

Former Ohio State defensive back, Malcolm Jenkins was an outstanding player for the Buckeyes in the mid-2000s. Turns out, he’s an even better human being. Jenkins has been announced as the Dungy-Thompson Humanitarian Award winner for 2021.

The Dungy-Thompson Humanitarian award is given as recognition of Big Ten football students who have achieved success in the areas of leadership and humanitarianism following their academic and athletic careers at a Big Ten university. And Jenkins has done just that.

In 2010, Jenkins launched the Malcolm Jenkins Foundation, which is “dedicated to youth development programs and initiatives that provide innovative learning opportunities, resources, and experiences that will help them succeed in life and become productive and contributing members in their community.”

The former OSU star has used his platform to do so much good in the communities where he has lived. He has been a nominee for the Walter Payton Man of the Year award in 2019. In 2017, Jenkins was awarded the Byron “Whizzer” White Award, which is “the highest honor the NFLPA can bestow on a player” for going above and beyond in service to the community. And this is just a small portion of the recognition that Jenkins has received over the course of his professional career.

In being honored with the award, Jenkins becomes the second former Buckeye to be named the recipient since its inception in 2011. Former OSU legend, Chris Spielman was honored with the award in 2012.

Congratulations to Malcolm Jenkins. Making Buckeye fans proud years after leaving the ‘Shoe.

Contact/Follow us @BuckeyesWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Ohio State news, notes and opinion.

TE Juwan Johnson, DT Malcolm Roach inactive for Saints vs. Falcons

Juwan Johnson, Malcolm Roach inactive for Saints vs. Falcons; rookies Ian Book and Payton Turner suit up

[mm-video type=video id=01fknysc5d6jjhb5q7m2 playlist_id=01eqbyahgz6p2j3xp7 player_id=none image=https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/video/thumbnail/mmplus/01fknysc5d6jjhb5q7m2/01fknysc5d6jjhb5q7m2-a2d86502bd69b97ccabab70f2ff7906c.jpg]

The New Orleans Saints and Atlanta Falcons released their inactive lists on Sunday before Week 9’s kickoff at the Caesars Superdome, with several players questionable with injuries receiving the green light to play: Saints defensive end Payton Turner and safety Malcolm Jenkins among them. Rookie quarterback Ian Book is also active and will back up Trevor Siemian and Taysom Hill.

Here is the full inactive report from each team:

3 New Orleans Saints players ruled out on final injury report vs. Atlanta Falcons

Ty Montgomery and Carl Granderson were ruled out on the final New Orleans Saints injury report vs. Atlanta Falcons

[mm-video type=video id=01fkrh8c5854nzkfv4qq playlist_id=01eqbyahgz6p2j3xp7 player_id=none image=https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/video/thumbnail/mmplus/01fkrh8c5854nzkfv4qq/01fkrh8c5854nzkfv4qq-d839d27a374fe4442121841d4bd9b4f2.jpg]

The final New Orleans Saints injury report ruled out three players for Sunday’s game with the Atlanta Falcons, including quarterback Jameis Winston (as expected after his season-ending knee injury). Winston will go to injured reserve soon, but the Saints will also be without defensive end Carl Granderson and wide receiver/running back Ty Montgomery while they manage difference injuries. A few other Saints players are questionable.

Meanwhile, the Falcons designated wide receiver Calvin Ridley to the non-football injury list while he steps away from the team to manage his mental health. Ridley must miss at least the next three weeks, but he could be unavailable for a longer time. Let’s wish him well as he searches for the help he needs.

The full and final injury reports from both teams: