Adrian Fedkiw
The NFL Network top 100 list may not recognize how great Philadelphia Eagles safety Malcolm Jenkins is, but various other football publications do.
Jenkins made Pro Football Focus’ top 101 list and was ranked as a top 10 safety in both Pro Football Weekly and Athlon’s 2016 NFL preview magazines.
The first-time Pro Bowler, who was originally a seventh alternate, in 2015 checked in at No. 2 in Athlon’s list. It’s refreshing to see because many don’t realize how valuable of a piece Jenkins is for the defense.
A playmaker who earned his first trip to the Pro Bowl in 2015. He posted career and team highs with 109 tackles, three forced fumbles and team highs with 109 tackles, three forced fumbles and 10 passes defensed.
Seattle’s Earl Thomas was the top-ranked safety followed by Jenkins, Eric Berry, Harrison Smith, ReShad Jones, Tyrann Mathieu, Morgan Burnett, Devin McCourty, Ha Ha Clinton-Dix and T.J. Ward. Jenkins’ running mate Rodney McLeod was ranked 14th.
Jenkins was the seventh ranked safety for Pro Football Weekly.
Jenkins was the 14th overall pick in New Orleans in 2009 and played well there for a few years, but never really arrived until moving on to Philadelphia as a free agent in 2014. He enjoyed a breakout season last year, his seventh in the league, leading the Eagles in tackles, tackles for loss, passes defensed and forced fumbles. He is a two-way safety who plays both the run and the pass well, but at 6’0, 204 pounds, he is more of a free safety than in-the-box safety.
Thomas was also the top-ranked safety on that list, followed by Berry, Mathieu, McCourty, Smith, Antoine Beathea, Jenkins Dix, Patrick Chung and Eric Weddle.
Jenkins was 54th on PFF’s list.
There isn’t a better advertisement for the impact a defensive scheme can have on a player than Malcolm Jenkins, who has been a completely different producer in Philadelphia than he ever was in New Orleans. Over the final three seasons of his New Orleans career, Jenkins earned a cumulative PFF grade of -23.8; in two years with Philadelphia, he has posted a cumulative grade of +27.7. Jenkins has shown to be a much better run defender than he ever did for the Saints, cutting down on the number of missed tackles and proving to be a very capable coverage defender all over the field. Sometimes all it takes is being freed from an ill-suited scheme.
Mathieu (18), Smith (29) and Thomas (33) were the only other safeties ranked ahead of him.
As for other Eagles to crack the lists of the three publications, Fletcher Cox was the fifth ranked defensive tackle for Athlon and sixth for PFW, while checking in at No. 28 on the PFF top 101. He was 49th on the NFL Network’s top 100 list, the only Eagle to make it. Zach Ertz was the fifth best tight end for Athlon and ninth for PFW.
No other Eagle made any of PFW’s other lists, but a few others saw their names printed in Athlon. Jason Peters (No. 6 tackle), Lane Johnson (No. 18 tackle) and Jason Kelce (No. 8 center) made the cut for offensive linemen. Connor Barwin was the ninth best defensive end, Jordan Hicks the 18th best inside linebacker and Nigel Bradham the 16th best outside linebacker.