Malcolm Jenkins’ version of game day this year comes when dropping his daughters off at school. On the days he’s in charge, Jenkins tries to find the perfect time to pull out of the house, navigate traffic and arrive at school with the least resistance in a car line. It’s a personal challenge, and a way to satiate his competitiveness without football.
Jenkins retired in March after 13 NFL seasons. He’s most remembered for his six years with the Eagles, which included three Pro Bowl appearances and a Super Bowl title, and the Super Bowl he won with New Orleans. He’s now moved on to football’s version of civilian life and is staying busy in retirement.
Two weeks of the month are spent as a full-time dad. The other times, he doesn’t know which city he’ll be in — could be Philadelphia, could be Los Angeles, could be New York — with podcasting, philanthropy and art shows filling his schedule. He’s hosting the “Malcolm Jenkins Fantasy Blitz” Tuesday on Xfinity Live to raise funds for his foundation’s drive to promote financial freedom.
“And then I find myself time on Sundays to watch my Eagles,” Jenkins said.
Yes, they’re still his Eagles, even though he finished his career with the Saints. He could be spotted at an Eagles practice, and he’s a devoted follower of the franchise where he left his mark. When Jenkins played in Philadelphia, you could often count on him for an honest assessment of his own team. Jenkins is buying the Eagles’ 9-1 start, specifically praising the complementary brand of football, with a defense that forces takeaways (No. 1 in the NFL) and an offense that has generally taken care of the ball (tied for second-fewest turnovers).
“They play a great style of football that I think will carry them deep into the playoffs,” Jenkins said in a conversation with The Athletic last week. “They’re not invincible. If any year, this is the year where any team can beat anybody. … So it’s just one of those times where they got to stay focused and stay healthy. … Only one of those things they can control: staying focused. … I think (the Washington loss) will reset them and put them in a place where they accept the challenge of being the underdog again, of fighting against people’s expectations and all that stuff. Philly looks better when they have a little dirt on them. We don’t look good when we have a clean uniform.”
Jenkins played two seasons with new Eagles safety C.J. Gardner-Johnson while in New Orleans, sharing a secondary with Gardner-Johnson and gaining insight into a player that Philadelphia is still getting to know. Jenkins said Gardner-Johnson is “a lot smarter than he puts on” and has been waiting for this type of opportunity. Gardner-Johnson was mostly a slot cornerback with the Saints. His role has changed in Philadelphia, where he’s a full-time safety who leads the NFL with six interceptions.
Anyone can see that Gardner-Johnson has given the Eagles a needed playmaking presence in the secondary. The unique perspective that Jenkins possesses is how far Gardner-Johnson has come, and how well he’s handling success.
“When he was a younger player, to try to talk to him at a time like this, he’d be caught up in himself, he’d be talking about how well he’s doing,” Jenkins said. “You talk to him now and he’s talking about how I gotta get back to work with small things in his game that he’s gotta work on. And that’s just a sign of maturity and an understanding of how good he can be.”
When Jenkins played in Philadelphia, he was more than a key defensive player. He was also a tone-setter in the locker room, someone who tried to take the temperature of the team and respond accordingly. Jenkins cited the leadership of former teammates Jason Kelce, Fletcher Cox and Brandon Graham when discussing how the Eagles must maintain focus during the backstretch of the season. And when he analyzed Jalen Hurts, it was the quarterback’s personality that resonated most.
“I think in places like Philadelphia, leadership comes at a premium and leadership is necessary in order to even perform in that city, let alone thrive in it,” Jenkins said. “And what he’s doing from a leadership standpoint is off the charts. Everything that he says after the game, (it’s) the perfect message that a team needed at that moment. He’s a great barometer to let you know that his team isn’t one that’s going to look past the moment … isn’t one that is going to cut corners, because he’s not gonna allow it. And those things are encouraging because those are all the things that you can’t control as a team.”
Jenkins never played in Jonathan Gannon’s defense, although he’s followed the trend across the league of more defenses using shell coverage and playing a style similar to the Eagles. When facing an offense such as the Miami Dolphins or Kansas City Chiefs, Jenkins is on board with the philosophy of preventing explosive plays and making offenses earn points with long drives. And he’s played against offensive coordinators and quarterbacks who weren’t patient enough to extend drives and would play into the defense’s head.
The flip side, according to Jenkins, is when facing an offense that likes to run the ball and use a controlled passing game. And those are times when it would help to have an extra safety in the box or a well-timed run blitz to force a negative play. Jenkins’ concern is opponents creating third-and-short opportunities, as Washington did in Week 10, by taking small gains on the ground.
“So you’re gonna have to figure out a way, especially moving forward, you’re gonna get a ton of running teams in the NFC and the playoffs, and you’re gonna have to figure out ways to create some disruption up front if they don’t want to add another player into the box,” Jenkins said. “There are things they can do in the front to create some disruption, but they gotta get some negative plays on first and second down.”
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Two days after the Eagles play the Green Bay Packers, Jenkins will host his event across the street. He held a town hall at Parkway Northwest High School earlier this month as a way to implement financial literacy into its curriculum.
He said this cause is important because he’s realized that there’s no way to change peoples’ environments without addressing the economic disparities in society, and part of that has to do with financial literacy. To attack that issue, Jenkins believes it must start with educating children. Through storytelling and experiences, he wants to address tools of finances and views of money.
“How do we think about money? By identifying things that we value,” Jenkins said. “Do we value material things, do we value our time, do we value our shelter? First, figuring out what someone actually values is an indicator of how to actually spend money, and use the money. … And then once we determine your goals with money, we can figure out the tools that you need to reach those goals.”
Jenkins recited the cliché about teaching someone to fish and feeding them for life. That’s one of his goals in his first year without football — other than effectively navigating the car line.
(Top photo: Cindy Ord / Getty Images for SiriusXM )
Source link: https://theathletic.com/3935301/2022/11/25/malcolm-jenkins-retirement-eagles/
