Kristopher Rudy-Charles Jenkins (born August 3, 1979) is a former

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 wit ...

defensive tackle who played for the

Carolina Panthers The Carolina Panthers are a professional American football team based in Charlotte, North Carolina. The Panthers compete in the National Football League (NFL), as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. ...

and New York Jets of 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 ma ...

(NFL). He played college football for the

University of Maryland The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland. Founded in 1856, UMD is the Flagship un ...

. He was drafted by the Panthers in the second round of 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 ...

. A two-time

All-Pro All-Pro is an honor bestowed upon professional American football players that designates the best player at each position during a given season. All-Pro players are typically selected by press organizations, who select an "All-Pro team," a list t ...

and four-time

Pro Bowl The National Football League All-Star Game (1939–1942), Pro Bowl (1951–2022), or Pro Bowl Games (starting in 2023) is an annual event held by the National Football League (NFL) featuring the league's star players. The format has changed thro ...

selection, Jenkins played seven seasons for the Panthers before being traded to the New York Jets in 2008.

College career

Jenkins played college football at the

, where he started 27 of 41 games. He made the second-team All- ACC during his senior season. He finished with 9.5 sacks and 154 tackles.

Professional career

2001 NFL Draft

Jenkins was selected in the second round of the 2001

NFL Draft The National Football League Draft, also called the NFL Draft or (officially) the Player Selection Meeting, is an annual event which serves as the league's most common source of player recruitment. Each team is given a position in the drafting o ...

by Carolina.

Carolina Panthers (2001–2007)

Jenkins finished the 2002 season with 60 tackles and 7 sacks, en route to an alternate appearance on the NFC's

team, where he replaced an injured

Warren Sapp Warren Carlos Sapp (born December 19, 1972) is an American former American football, football defensive tackle who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 13 seasons, primarily with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Sapp played college footbal ...

. The following season, he helped the Panthers on their way to

Super Bowl XXXVIII Super Bowl XXXVIII was an American football game between the National Football Conference (NFC) champion Carolina Panthers and the American Football Conference (AFC) champion New England Patriots to decide the National Football League (NFL) c ...

. In one game 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 ...

, Jenkins blocked two kicks: a

field goal A field goal (FG) is a means of scoring in gridiron football. To score a field goal, the team in possession of the ball must place kick, or drop kick, the ball through the goal, i.e., between the uprights and over the crossbar. The entire ba ...

attempt by Martin Gramatica, and an extra point attempt that would have won the game. Jenkins' second block marked the first time that an extra point was blocked to send a game into overtime (Carolina later won the game). Jenkins was rewarded with his first Pro Bowl start, and joined teammate

Mike Rucker Mike may refer to: Animals * Mike (cat), cat and guardian of the British Museum * Mike the Headless Chicken, chicken that lived for 18 months after his head had been cut off * Mike (chimpanzee), a chimpanzee featured in several books and document ...

as half of the NFC's defensive front line. However, the

2004 NFL season The 2004 NFL season was the 85th regular season of the National Football League. With New England as the defending league champions, regular season play was held from September 9, 2004 to January 2, 2005. Hurricanes forced the rescheduling o ...

saw Jenkins suffer a shoulder injury in the second game against

Kansas City The Kansas City metropolitan area is a bi-state metropolitan area anchored by Kansas City, Missouri. Its 14 counties straddle the border between the U.S. states of Missouri (9 counties) and Kansas (5 counties). With and a population of more ...

, and he spent the latter half of the season on injured reserve. His injuries continued during the first game of the

2005 NFL season The 2005 NFL season was the 86th regular season of the National Football League. Regular season play was held from September 8, 2005 to January 1, 2006. The regular season also saw the first ever regular season game played outside the United ...

when he tore his

anterior cruciate ligament The anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is one of a pair of cruciate ligaments (the other being the posterior cruciate ligament) in the human knee. The two ligaments are also called "cruciform" ligaments, as they are arranged in a crossed formation ...

and was once again placed on injured reserve.

New York Jets (2008–2010)

On February 29, 2008, the

traded Jenkins to the New York Jets for third- and fifth-round draft picks in the

2008 NFL Draft The 2008 NFL Draft was the 73rd annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible American football players. The draft took place at Radio City Music Hall in New York City, New York, on April 26 and April 27 ...

. The Panthers selected Charles Godfrey and Gary Barnidge with the traded picks. For much of his first season with the Jets, Jenkins was dominant and garnered heavy consideration for the NFL's Defensive Player of the Year award. On Sunday October 18, 2009, Jenkins left the game against 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 ...

with a left knee injury. The next day, it was reported that he had a torn ACL and would be out for the rest of the season. During the home opener against 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 it ...

on September 13, 2010, Jenkins was injured as he twisted his leg making a tackle. A few days later, an MRI revealed that Jenkins had again torn his ACL and was out for the rest of the 2010 season. The Jets released Jenkins on February 28, 2011.

Retirement

Jenkins announced his retirement from football on July 20, 2011.

NFL career statistics

Regular season

Personal life

Prior to the

2011 NFL Season The 2011 NFL season was the 92nd regular season of the National Football League and the 46th of the Super Bowl era. It began on Thursday, September 8, 2011, with the Super Bowl XLV champion Green Bay defeating the Super Bowl XLIV champion ...

, Jenkins joined

SNY SportsNet New York (SNY) is an American regional sports network owned by Sterling Entertainment Enterprises, LLC, itself a joint venture between the Fred Wilpon (which owns a controlling 65% interest) Sterling Equities, Charter Communications ...

as an analyst for New York Jets. His job included appearing on Jets programs such as pre-game and post-game shows and Jets Game Plan. He is the older brother of former

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 formations over the years have substantially changed how the position is p ...

, Cullen Jenkins.

References

External links

New York Jets bioCarolina Panthers bioMaryland Terrapins bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jenkins, Kris Sportspeople from Ypsilanti, Michigan American Conference Pro Bowl players African-American players of American football American football defensive tackles Maryland Terrapins football players Carolina Panthers players National Conference Pro Bowl players New York Jets players 1979 births Living people American people of Welsh descent 21st-century African-American sportspeople 20th-century African-American sportspeople