Jordan Montae Jenkins (born July 1, 1994) is an American former professional
football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...
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 ...
. He played
college football
College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...
at
Georgia
Georgia most commonly refers to:
* Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus
* Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States
Georgia may also refer to:
People and fictional characters
* Georgia (name), a list of pe ...
, and was selected 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 of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East division. The team p ...
in the third round of the
2016 NFL draft.
Early life
Jenkins attended
Harris County High School in
Hamilton, Georgia. He was a four-star recruit by
Rivals.com 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
The University of Georgia (UGA or Georgia) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university with its main campus in Athens, Georgia, United States. Chartered in 1785, it is the oldest public university in th ...
to play
college football
College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...
.
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, Jenkins announced that he would return for his senior year.
Professional career
Pre-draft
Coming out of Georgia, Jenkins was considered one of the top linebacker prospects and received an invitation to the
NFL combine
The NFL Scouting Combine is a week-long showcase occurring every February at Lucas Oil Stadium (and formerly at the RCA Dome until 2008) in Indianapolis, where college football players perform physical and mental tests in front of National Foot ...
. He attended the combine and completed the majority of drills until he suffered a
hamstring
A hamstring () is any one of the three posterior thigh muscles in human anatomy between the hip and the knee: from medial to lateral, the semimembranosus, semitendinosus and biceps femoris.
Etymology
The word " ham" is derived from the Old ...
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
The NFL draft, officially known as the Annual Player Selection Meeting, is an annual event which serves as the most common source of player recruitment in the National Football League. Each team is given a position in the drafting order in reve ...
, along with Floyd,
Malcolm Mitchell,
John Theus,
Keith Marshall,
Marshall Morgan,
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
The NFL draft, officially known as the Annual Player Selection Meeting, is an annual event which serves as the most common source of player recruitment in the National Football League. Each team is given a position in the drafting order in reve ...
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, the ninth best outside linebacker by NFLDraftScout.com, the ninth best linebacker by
ESPN
ESPN (an initialism of their original name, which was the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by the Walt Disney Company (80% and operational control) and Hearst Commu ...
, 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 a circulation of over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellen ...
''.
New York Jets
2016
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 of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East division. The team p ...
in the third round (83rd overall) in the
2016 NFL draft. Jenkins was the second linebacker drafted by the Jets in 2016 behind
Darron Lee (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 of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. They are one of two remaining ...
.
He competed with
Trevor Reilly,
Lorenzo Mauldin, and
Deion Barnes throughout
training camp for one of the jobs as starting outside linebacker. Head coach
Todd Bowles named him one of the starting outside linebackers to start the season, opposite 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. During a Week 14 matchup against the
San Francisco 49ers
The San Francisco 49ers (also written as the San Francisco Forty-Niners and nicknamed the 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 ...
, he recorded four combined tackles and was credited with a half a sack on
Colin Kaepernick in the Jets' 23–17
overtime 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 Bowles to start the season. In the Jets' season-opener at the
Buffalo Bills
The Buffalo Bills are a professional American football team based in the Buffalo–Niagara Falls metropolitan area. The Bills compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East div ...
, Jenkins recorded a season-high four solo tackles in the Jets' 12–21 loss. On November 2, 2017, he earned two solo tackles, sacked Bills quarterback
Tyrod Taylor twice, and forced the first fumble of his career, as the Jets won 34–21 on ''
Thursday Night Football''. He was named the
American Football Conference Defensive Player of the Week for his performance in Week 9.
2020
On March 23, 2020, the Jets signed Jenkins to a one-year, $3.75 million contract that included $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 as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC South, South division. The team plays its home games at N ...
. 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. On August 21, 2022, Jenkins was placed on injured reserve with a
torn ACL.
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
21st-century American sportsmen
Las Vegas Raiders players