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Honestly, there shouldn’t be high expectations for this guy to fix this problem. It’s not realistic.
And I’m not saying he’s a bad player. Not at all.
What and who am I talking about?
I’m referring to all this talk that second-year outside linebacker Jordan Jenkins could be the panacea for the Jets pass rush.
“The Jets have spent the last decade looking for an outside pass rusher,” wrote Brian Costello in the New York Post. “They have tried drafting them (Vernon Gholston), paying them (Calvin Pace) and finding one off the scrap heap (Aaron Maybin). Nothing has worked. Jordan Jenkins hopes he can change that run in 2017.”
It’s a long-shot he will.
And this not a shot at the player.
He’s a great kid, terrific character (military father), good leader, very tough and solid against the run.
However, his last three seasons at Georgia, he had five, five and four sacks.
Usually, if you don’t put up big sack numbers in college, it’s not going to happen in the NFL.
The NFL has better offensive tackles than college football, and NFL quarterbacks tend to get rid of the ball quicker, which makes it tougher to get to them.
So with it being tougher to get to the quarterback in the NFL, it stands to reason guys who didn’t light it up as pass rushers in college aren’t going to become sack-masters on the next level.
I asked Jenkins when the Jets drafted him about his sack numbers not being that gaudy (I asked it very respectfully, saying “sacks aren’t everything” in the question).
He said that he was being used in a different role quite a bit which didn’t allow him to rush the passer all the time.
My first reaction to this was, if a guy is a really good pass rusher, why would coaches not have him rush the passer on third down? You don’t use great pass rushers in other roles in pass rushing situations – getting to the passer is way too important.
Jenkins is a good player, but not a dynamic pass rusher.
Jenkins doesn’t have great speed or quickness. He ran a 4.8 forty at the combine, and registered a 7.41 three-cone drill which suggests below average agility. In other words, he’s not going to beat a lot of NFL tackles off the snap and take the edge quickly. He doesn’t have the flexibility and short-area quickness to do this with regularity.
“He’s a better football player than athlete,” said NFL.com draft guru Mike Mayock.
Look, I’m dissing the kid. I’m just keeping it real.
I think he can be a very good #2 OLB, a strong-side linebacker over the tight end, who will stop the run and get you an occasional sack.
But it would be a major upset if he solves the Jets’ edge-rushing issues.
Honestly, that really isn’t his game.
And people need to chill-out hyping him as a potential savior for the Jets’ pass rush.
It’s unfair to the kid and probably not steeped in reality.
July 14, 2017
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