John Robert Jenkins (born January 31, 1979) is an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

former

kicker Kicker or The Kicker may refer to: Sports * Placekicker, a position in American and Canadian football * ''Kicker'' (sports magazine), in Germany * Kicker, the German colloquial term for an association football player * Kicker, the word used i ...

in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

for the

Baltimore Ravens The Baltimore Ravens are a professional American football team based in Baltimore, Maryland. The Ravens compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) North division. The team plays its ...

Football career

Jenkins played football at

Marshall University Marshall University is a public research university in Huntington, West Virginia. It was founded in 1837 and is named after John Marshall, the fourth Chief Justice of the United States. The university is currently composed of nine colleges: L ...

from 1997 to 2001 as a

, handling kickoff duties for the first two seasons before becoming the team's primary kicker in 1999. He went undrafted in the

2001 NFL draft The 2001 NFL Draft was the 66th annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible professional football players. The draft, which is officially referred to as the "NFL Player Selection Meeting," was held at the ...

Detroit Fury

After leaving Marshall University, Jenkins signed with the

Detroit Fury The Detroit Fury were an arena football team based in Auburn Hills, Michigan. History The team was a member of the Arena Football League from 2001 to 2004 and played at The Palace of Auburn Hills, also the home of the NBA's Detroit Pistons. The ...

of the

Arena Football League The Arena Football League (AFL) was a professional arena football league in the United States. It was founded in 1986, but played its first official games in the 1987 season, making it the third longest-running professional football league in ...

on June 6, 2001, to replace Detroit's previous kicker, Kent Baker. During a playoff game against the

Arizona Rattlers The Arizona Rattlers are a professional indoor American football team based in Phoenix, Arizona. They are currently members of the Indoor Football League (IFL). The Rattlers were founded in 1992 as an expansion team in the Arena Football League ...

, Jenkins kicked a 57-yard field goal, the longest of his professional football career. He left the AFL April 22, 2002, to sign with the Baltimore Ravens of the NFL.

Baltimore Ravens

During the 2001–02 offseason, the

signed Jenkins to perform kickoff duties, as his leg was much stronger than incumbent kicker

Matt Stover John Matthew Stover (born January 27, 1968) is a former American football placekicker who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 20 seasons, primarily with the Baltimore Ravens. After five seasons for the Cleveland Browns, he was amon ...

's leg. During his tenure with the Ravens, he attempted 1 field goal against the

Tampa Bay Buccaneers The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are a professional American football team based in Tampa, Florida. The Buccaneers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) NFC South, South divisio ...

, which was blocked by

Ellis Wyms Ellis Rashad Wyms (born April 12, 1979) is a former American football defensive tackle. He was originally drafted by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the sixth round of the 2001 NFL Draft. He played college football at Mississippi State. Wyms, who e ...

. He was put on the practice squad after week 10 due to injuries. He would go on to be assigned to NFL Europe with the Berlin Thunder for the off season. He was eventually cut after the 3rd preseason game in 2003

Berlin Thunder

Jenkins was assigned to the

Berlin Thunder The Berlin Thunder were a professional American football team in NFL Europe. History The Thunder came into existence as an expansion team, after the London/England Monarchs franchise shut down operations, prior to the 1999 season. Home games f ...

NFL Europe NFL Europe League (simply called NFL Europe and known in its final season as NFL Europa League) was a professional American football league that functioned as the developmental minor league of the National Football League (NFL). Originally f ...

during the 2003 NFL off-season. Again, he was mostly used as a kickoff and long field goal specialist, going 6/11 on field goal attempts, making 2/4 of his attempts of 50+ yards.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jenkins, J. R. 1979 births Living people American football placekickers Baltimore Ravens players Berlin Thunder players Detroit Fury players Marshall Thundering Herd football players Players of American football from Springfield, Illinois