When it comes to some of the easier decisions of who to bring back or not, Rayshawn Jenkins is one of the easiest decisions for me. I would love to see Jenkins back. In fact, I think we have yet to see the best of Jenkins. I also believe in a non single high safety system and I think his true potential would come out. In fact when Staley is coaching safeties they seem to have their best seasons. This is true of John Johnson of the Rams and Eddie Jackson on the Bears despite the fact he was a linebacker coach in Chicago. We have yet to see a pair of Derwin and Jenkins on the field at the same time which is a tandem i have been waiting to see. Like him or dislike him, Jenkins brings a certain physicality that I love and this team needs more of. If I’m being honest I know the fan base is split on Rayshawn but I really don’t get the hate for Jenkins. The dude is a baller.
Jenkins has shown improvement in each season of his career thus far. One part of his game that doesn’t get enough recognition is the fact that he shows a ton of versatility which is one of the reasons people love Derwin James so much. If you happen to be questioning his versatility let me point out that not only did he play 493 snaps as a strong up in the box style of safety but he also played 117 snaps at single high free safety. It gets more impressive though as he also logged 57 snaps up on the line of scrimmage and recorded a 75.0 pass rush grade according to Pro Football Focus. Plus then you have to factor in the 181 snaps he took as a slot corner. Usually when a DB is slotted all over the place like this the folks over at Pro Football Focus usually aren’t very kind to coverage grades but yet he still managed a 70.0 coverage grade. If you ask me this is very impressive considering those snap counts and different assignments he would have in primarily cover 2 and 3. Oh, and I almost forgot to mention the 2 interceptions with pass deflections. Now just imagine the disguising and constant switching and around Staley could do with both a healthy Jenkins and Derwin. Could very well make for the best safety duo in the league.
The consensus top safety on the market is John Johnson of the Rams. According to Spotrac.com Johnson’s market value looks to be around 8.3 per year. Johnson through 4 years of play has a total of 8 interceptions and 32 pass deflections. Compare that to Jenkins career 5 interceptions and 9 pass deflections he likely won’t get as much. Keep in mind those comparisons are skewed as Jenkins didn’t really recieve ample play time until his 3rd season.
They should offer him a 3 year 18 million dollar deal or something close to those figures.
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