Jordan Jenkins
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Jordan Montae Jenkins (born July 1, 1994) 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 ...
defensive end Defensive end (DE) is a defensive position in the sport of gridiron football. This position has designated the players at each end of the defensive line, but changes in formation (American football), formations over the years have substantially ...
who is a free agent. He played
college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...
at
Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...
, and was drafted by the
New York Jets The New York Jets are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Jets compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. The J ...
in the third round of the
2016 NFL Draft The 2016 NFL Draft was the 81st annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible American football players. As in 2015, the draft took place at the Auditorium Theatre and Grant Park in Chicago. The draft beg ...
.


Early years

Jenkins attended
Harris County High School Harris County High School is a public high school serving grades 9 through 12. The school is located in Hamilton, Georgia, United States, in Harris County. The school mascot is a tiger, called Tano, and the school colors are black and gold. The sc ...
in
Hamilton, Georgia Hamilton is a city in, and the county seat of Harris County, Georgia, United States. It is part of the Columbus, Georgia-Alabama Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 1,680 at the 2020 census, up from 307 at the 2000 census. As of 20 ...
. He was a four-star recruit by
Rivals.com Rivals.com is a network of websites that focus mainly on college football and basketball recruiting in the United States. The network was started in 1998 and employs more than 300 personnel. History Rivals.com was founded in 1998 by Jim Heckma ...
and was rated among the top
defensive end Defensive end (DE) is a defensive position in the sport of gridiron football. This position has designated the players at each end of the defensive line, but changes in formation (American football), formations over the years have substantially ...
recruits in his class. He committed to the
University of Georgia , mottoeng = "To teach, to serve, and to inquire into the nature of things.""To serve" was later added to the motto without changing the seal; the Latin motto directly translates as "To teach and to inquire into the nature of things." , establ ...
to play
college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...
.


College career

As a true freshman at Georgia in 2012, Jenkins played in 14 games and made six starts at outside linebacker. He recorded 31 tackles and five sacks. As a 13-game starter his sophomore year in 2013, Jenkins had 45 tackles and five sacks. Jenkins again started all 13 games his junior year in 2014, recording 70 tackles and five sacks. After he considered entering the
2015 NFL Draft The 2015 NFL Draft was the 80th annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible football players. It took place in Chicago at the Auditorium Theatre and in Grant Park, from April 30 to May 2. The previous ...
, Jenkins announced that he would return for his senior year.


Professional career

Coming out of Georgia, Jenkins was considered one of the top linebacker prospects and received an invitation to the NFL combine. He attended the combine and completed the majority of drills until he suffered a
hamstring In human anatomy, a hamstring () is any one of the three posterior thigh muscles in between the hip and the knee (from medial to lateral: semimembranosus, semitendinosus and biceps femoris). The hamstrings are susceptible to injury. In quadrupeds, ...
injury that made him unable to perform the short shuttle and three-cone drill. Coincidentally, teammate Leonard Floyd also injured his hamstring at the combine and was unable to perform the three-cone and short shuttle. On March 16, 2016, he opted to participate at Georgia's pro day, along with
Leonard Floyd Leonard Cornilus Floyd (born September 8, 1992) is an American football outside linebacker for the Los Angeles Rams of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Georgia and was drafted by the Chicago Bears in the firs ...
,
Malcolm Mitchell Malcolm Jarod Mitchell (born July 20, 1993) is an author, poet, and former American football wide receiver. He was drafted by the New England Patriots in the fourth round of the 2016 NFL Draft. He played college football at the University of ...
, John Theus, Keith Marshall,
Marshall Morgan Marshall Morgan (born November 28, 1993) is an American football placekicker who is currently a free agent. He played college football for Georgia. Morgan has the school record for most completed extra points (215). Morgan is also 3rd in field ...
, Sterling Bailey, Quayvon Hicks, and ten other players. Jenkins completed the short shuttle and three-cone drill, while also running positional drills and lowering his time in the 40-yard dash. He also elevated his vertical to 38" and increased his number of reps on the bench press to 19. He was projected to be a third round pick by the majority of NFL draft experts and scouts. After he completed the pre-draft process, Jenkins was ranked as the eighth best linebacker prospect in the draft by NFL analyst
Mike Mayock Michael Francis Mayock (born August 14, 1958) is a former American football executive and former player who served as the general manager of the Las Vegas Raiders of the National Football League (NFL) from 2019 to 2021. Mayock was a safety with ...
, the ninth best outside linebacker by NFLDraftScout.com, the ninth best linebacker by
ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...
, and was ranked the 11th best linebacker by ''
Sports Illustrated ''Sports Illustrated'' (''SI'') is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellence twic ...
''.


New York Jets

Jenkins was drafted by the
New York Jets The New York Jets are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Jets compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. The J ...
in the third round (83rd overall) in the
2016 NFL Draft The 2016 NFL Draft was the 81st annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible American football players. As in 2015, the draft took place at the Auditorium Theatre and Grant Park in Chicago. The draft beg ...
. Jenkins was the second linebacker drafted by the Jets in 2016 behind
Darron Lee Darron Lee (born October 18, 1994) is an American football linebacker who is a free agent. He played college football at Ohio State and was drafted by the New York Jets in the first round of the 2016 NFL Draft. He has also played for the Kansa ...
(first round, 20th overall) and was the ninth linebacker selected in the entire draft. Fellow Georgia linebacker and teammate, Leonard Floyd, was selected in the first round (ninth overall) by the
Chicago Bears The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago. The Bears compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) North division. The Bears have won nine NF ...
.


2016

He competed with
Trevor Reilly Trevor McKay Reilly (born January 17, 1988) is a former American football outside linebacker. He was selected by the New York Jets in the seventh round of the 2014 NFL Draft. He played college football at Utah. College career During his tenure, ...
,
Lorenzo Mauldin Lorenzo Malik Mauldin IV (born October 1, 1992) is a professional gridiron football defensive end for the Ottawa Redblacks of the Canadian Football League (CFL). He was drafted by the New York Jets in the third round of the 2015 NFL Draft. He ...
, and
Deion Barnes Deion Deryl Barnes (born January 20, 1993) is a former American football outside linebacker currently serving as a graduate assistant at his alma mater, Penn State. He played high school football at Northeast High School in Philadelphia, Pennsyl ...
throughout training camp for the one of the jobs as starting outside linebacker. Head coach
Todd Bowles Todd Robert Bowles (born November 18, 1963) is an American football coach and former player who is the head coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers of the National Football League (NFL). He previously served as the head coach of the New York Jets. He ...
named him one of the starting outside linebackers to start the season, opposite Lorenzo Mauldin. He suffered a calf injury in mid-August and was unable to play in the first two games of the season. On September 25, 2016, Jenkins made his professional regular season debut and first career start, recording five combined tackles in a 24–3 loss to the
Kansas City Chiefs The Kansas City Chiefs are a professional American football team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Chiefs compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) West division. The tea ...
. During a Week 14 matchup against the
San Francisco 49ers The San Francisco 49ers (also written as the San Francisco Forty-Niners) are a professional American football team based in the San Francisco Bay Area. The 49ers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the league's National ...
, he recorded four combined tackles and was credited with a half a sack on
Colin Kaepernick Colin Rand Kaepernick ( ; born November 3, 1987) is an American civil rights activist and football quarterback who is a free agent. He played six seasons for the San Francisco 49ers in the National Football League (NFL). In 2016, he knelt dur ...
in the Jets' 23–17
overtime Overtime is the amount of time someone works beyond normal working hours. The term is also used for the pay received for this time. Normal hours may be determined in several ways: *by custom (what is considered healthy or reasonable by society), ...
victory. The next game, Jenkins collected five combined tackles and made his first career solo sack on Miami Dolphins' quarterback Matt Moore, as the Jets lost 34–13. Jenkins finished the season with 41 combined tackles (23 solo), 2.5 sacks, a forced fumble and two passes defensed in 11 starts and 14 games.


2017

Jenkins returned as the ''de facto'' outside linebacker under Todd Bowles to start the season. In the New York Jets' season-opener at the
Buffalo Bills The Buffalo Bills are a professional American football team based in the Buffalo metropolitan area. The Bills compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. ...
, Jenkins recorded a season-high four solo tackles in the Jets' 12–21 loss. On November 2, 2017, he earned two solo tackles, sacked Buffalo Bills' quarterback
Tyrod Taylor Tyrod Diallo Taylor (born August 3, 1989) is an American football quarterback for the New York Giants of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for Virginia Tech, leading the Hokies to the 2009 Orange Bowl as a Sophomore ...
twice, and forced the first fumble of his career, as the Jets won 34–21 on ''
Thursday Night Football ''Thursday Night Football'' (often abbreviated as ''TNF'') is the branding used for broadcasts of National Football League (NFL) games that broadcast primarily on Thursday nights. Most of the games kick off at 8:15 Eastern Time (8:20 prior to 20 ...
''. He was named the AFC Defensive Player of the Week for his performance in Week 9.


2020

On April 23, 2020, the New York Jets signed Jenkins to a one-year, $3.75 million contract that includes $3.25 million guaranteed and a signing bonus of $1.75 million. On December 16, 2020, Jenkins was placed on injured reserve.


Houston Texans

On March 29, 2021, Jenkins signed a two-year, $6 million contract, which could be pushed up to $8 million, with the
Houston Texans The Houston Texans are a professional American football team based in Houston. The Texans compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC South, South division, and play their home ga ...
. Before this move, Jenkins was the last remaining Jets player from the 2016 Draft and the longest tenured player on the team. He suffered a torn PCL in Week 11 and was placed on injured reserve on November 27, 2021. He was activated on December 18. He was released on August 15, 2022.


Las Vegas Raiders

On August 17, 2022, Jenkins signed with the
Las Vegas Raiders The Las Vegas Raiders are a professional American football team based in the Las Vegas metropolitan area. The Raiders compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) West divis ...
. On August 21, 2022, Jenkins was placed on
injured reserve The injured reserve list ( IR list) is a designation used in North American professional sports leagues for athletes who suffer injuries and become unable to play. The exact name of the list varies by league; it is known as "injured reserve" in th ...
with a
torn ACL An anterior cruciate ligament injury occurs when the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is either stretched, partially torn, or completely torn. The most common injury is a complete tear. Symptoms include pain, an audible cracking sound during inju ...
.


References


External links


Georgia Bulldogs bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jenkins, Jordan 1994 births Living people People from Harris County, Georgia Players of American football from Georgia (U.S. state) American football linebackers Georgia Bulldogs football players New York Jets players Houston Texans players Las Vegas Raiders players