Could Mike Jenkins be headed to San Fran or Tampa?

Mike Jenkins appears to be ready to leave the Dallas and the Cowboys seem to be accommodating. The question is where will the Southeast High product wind up.

Jenkins, who earned All-American honors at cornerback for USF, is an unrestricted free agent. He has had to battle injuries the last couple of years and was not happy that prior to last season Dallas owner Jerry Jones drafted CB Morris Claiborne and signed free agent CB Brandon Carr to a $50.1 million deal.

Mike Jenkins

The 27 year-old lost his starting job to Claiborne, but then Jenkins wound up starting at the slot corner when Orlando Scandrick injured his hand.

Jenkins reportedly angered Dallas when he did his off season rehab from shoulder surgery in Florida and didn’t attend voluntary workouts with the Cowboys though he was at all the mandatory sessions.

 “Do I want to come back? I’ve been here for five years, I’ve grown attached to everybody here. It’s hard to just get up and leave and not want to come back. At the same time, you want to go somewhere and have a fair opportunity and I guess I go on from there,” Jenkins told ESPNDallas.com.

One possible destination could be Tampa. Bucs head coach Greg Schiano knows Jenkins from his best days when he played against Schiano’s Rutgers teams.

The Bucs are in dire need of cornerbacks and at worse Jenkins has never gotten in trouble ala Tampa’s troubled cornerback Eric Wright, who has been dodging the law since his days at USC.

But another destination could be San Francisco. Jim Leavitt, who was the USF head coach when Jenkins played there, is the linebackers coach for the 49ers. He has always had nothing but good things to say about Jenkins and has considered one of his best all time recruits.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Are Mike Jenkins and Dallas owner Jerry Jones at odds over his injury?

Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones has sent out mixed messages about whether Mike Jenkins would play in the team’s season opener against the Giants.

Mike Jenkins says he will play when healhy

Jenkins has made it clear he won’t play unless he is one-hundred percent healthy; And by his calendar that doesn’t figure to have him ready for the Giants game.

The controversial owner told KRLD-FM in Dallas that he didn’t expect Jenkins to play and then contradicted himself by saying it would be an interesting scenario if the cornerback out of USF/Southeast High is cleared by his surgeon.

Jenkins played a good part of last season with the damaged shoulder and still performed admirably though he was in and out of games because of the injury. He was lauded by Dallas head coach Jason Garrett for his courage.

“He’s going to have his shoulder evaluated by his surgeon and it may be a little late in the pre-season for him,” Jones said. “I don’t think so (he will play). But that would be real interesting if we had an evaluation on him by this weekend. I’d like to have that problem to mull over.”

Jenkins doesn’t expect that to happen. He cannot practice until he is cleared by orthopedic surgeon Dr. James Andrews. He is scheduled to meet him on September 2^nd two days before the Cowboys-Giants game.

Jenkins told DallasCowboys.com Wednesday that he is not going to rush things and will not play unless he is 100 percent healthy.

“I don’t know what’s going to happen,” Jenkins said. “When I saw the doctor, he said four weeks (from the August 5^th surgery). So I’ve got to go back to the doctor and see what he says. But I’ll be 100 percent when I get back.”

There were reports that Jenkins is unhappy anyway because he figured to lose this starting job after the Cowboys acquired cornerback Brandon Carr and drafted LSU cornerback Morris Claiborne with their first pick in this year’s NFL draft. He denies that.

“Like I’ve said, no quotes ever came out of my mouth about being unhappy. There’s no frustration. That’s just people talking and assumptions,” Jenkins said. “I’m hurt and trying to get healthy. My time will come. I know I’m good enough to be on anyone’s team. The only thing I’m frustrated with is getting my shoulder right and going through this rehab.”

Garrett seemed to side with Jenkins on this one, particularly about him being ready.

“He needs to be able to practice football before he plays in Game One,” Garrett said Thursday. “We don’t have these hard and fast rules, if he doesn’t practice by this minute of this day, he can’t play in the game. That is not the way we do it. (But) we value practice. We value getting our guys ready to play. So, we understand the challenge he has coming back, having missed all the offseason and all of training camp, and we will treat his circumstance very individual and very specifically. But we believe in practice.”

 

 

.

 

 

 

     

Jenkins should exercise patience and good things will happen

Mike Jenkins looking for big payday

Mike Jenkins has to turn what seems to be a tough situation in a potential good one that could leave him with a whole lot of greenbacks flowing into his pockets.

The Dallas Cowboys cornerback has been all over the Internet with stories that he is disgruntled because team owner Jerry Jones drafted Morris Claiborne and picked up free agent Brandon Carr thus relegating Jenkins to a backup as he enters the final year of his rookie contract.

But it doesn't have to be that way for the USF All-American who learned his trade at Southeast High.

Cowboys defensive coordinator Rob Ryan says Jenkins might see a lot of time covering the slot receivers and that he wanted all his cornerback to be versatile in that way.

If Mike does a good job there it just adds to his value at the end of next season when he can shop himself on the free market. He isn't going to lose that sub 4.3 speed anytime soon.

But here is another thing to consider. Who is to say Claiborne is better than Mike and can beat Jenkins out despite the fact he will have a bigger contract.

So the best advice for Jenkins is stay quiet, stay cooperative, be the best player you can be and good things should happen.

As he promised, Jenkins showed up at Dallas' minicamp today after missing all of the OTA. Ryan calls Mike a talented guy who return to his All Pro form covering the slot and noted that the Boys will be utilizing three cornerbacks about 65 percent of the time.

Mike Jenkins continues to get praise for Sunday night performance

Looks like everyone is raving about Mike Jenkins performance Sunday despite his Dallas Cowboys loss to the Jets.

The cornerback was the only Dallas defensive back to get a plus rating for a tough performance where he fought off numerous injuries against the Jets

Here is what SB Nation's Dallas Cowboys blogger Dave Halprin said about the Southeast High graduate.

Mike Jenkins (48 of 65 snaps, +1.4 grade):

Looks like the Cowboys got back the 2009 version of Mike Jenkins, a guy who comes out and plays hard and with a lot of confidence - not the timid 2010 version. Jenkins was targeted four times and allowed one reception for two yards, according to the PFF stats. The last time Jenkins graded out higher was in week 1 last year.

Mike Jenkins and Fabian Washington still sidelined

Cornerbacks Mike Jenkins and Fabian Washington have yet to appear in an NFL pre-season game.

Jenkins has been sidelined with a neck injury (stinger) and missed Dallas' game against Minnesota Saturday night. The Southeast High product has one more pre-season game to get tuned up before the Cowboys regular season opener.

Washington, who signed with New Orleans after coming from Baltimore, has been sidelined with an hamstring injury. The Bayshore High graduate has slipped to third on the Saints depth chart.

The one local product who did play in the Dallas-Minnesota game was Palmetto graduate Mistral Raymond, who was drafted in the sixth round out of USF. Playing safety, he had two solo tackles.

Dallas not yet ready to give up on Mike Jenkins

There are a lot of different opinions on Dallas Cowboys cornerback Mike Jenkins; the former first round pick who earned All-American honors at USF and was a Blue-Chip prospect out of Southeast High.

Jenkins was a first round pick in 2008. But the question everyone seems to be asking is which Mike are going to see in 2011; if of course there is a 2011 NFL season.

Jenkins was a Pro-Bowler in 2009. Last season he could've been named captain of the NFL's All-Disappointment team.

To be frank, Jenkins was horrible. He allowed the second most yards by a defensive back in the NFL and tied for allowing the 14th most catches.

People are telling Dallas to draft a cornerback or two and draft guru Mel Kiper says it's time to give up on the speedy 6-1, 190 pound defensive back.

But Dallas coaches are so far sticking with him, believing that Jenkins can have a bounce back season in 2011.

"He’s a talented guy. I think he wants to be good, and we as coaches are going to try to get him back where he plays with the right frame of mind and plays with the discipline necessary to allow his talents to come out," Dallas head coach Jason Garrett said.

Mike Jenkins under fire

Dallas Cowboys Starting cornerback Mike Jenkins practiced Wednesday after missing more than two quarters last week against the Giants with a neck strain. Jenkins left the game in the second period when he was caught under a pile-up of players.

As long as the former Southeast/USF standout continues to practice, it appears he would return to his starting right cornerback post this weekend against the Lions this Sunday.

However, injuries might be the least of Jenkins problems. He has come under heavy fire this season for his play. He has been criticized for avoiding contact on plays in particular not attempting to tackle Green Bay Packers receiver James Jones in a recent game allowing the receiver to score a touchdown on the play.

Jenkins leads the NFL in pass interference calls with five after having only one pass interference call all of last season when he was a Pro Bowl selection. There has been quite a bit of talk that he needs to pick up his play if he wants to be with the Cowboys next season.

“This was a good week of preparation for the ’Boys. A lot of energy and inspiration from J.G.Physically I’m good to go against Detroit, passed all the tests for the week,” Jenkins said on his blog. “I thought our team came out and played hard (in win over Giants) when everyone was against us, even some of our own. The goal for us now is to find a way and finish strong.”




.

Jenkins expected to play Sunday

Dallas Cowboys cornerback Mike Jenkins returned to the practice field on Wednesday after being carted off the field last Sunday in the Cowboys 27-20 loss to Chicago.

The former Southeast High/USF standout injured his right knee against Chicago. Initially, it was thought to be serious with talk he might miss at a couple of weeks.

However, MRI tests on Monday revealed that the third year pro had a bruised knee and did not suffer any structural damage.

Jenkins wants to play real bad this Sunday when his winless Cowboys go against the surprising 2-0 Texans, who lead the NFL in total offense, averaging 440 yards per game.

They have one of the best receivers in the game in former University of Miami star Andre Johnson and quarterback Matt Schaub, who is fifth in the league in passing yards (604 yards) and has completed 47 of 69 passes for four touchdowns with two interceptions.

Johnson is fourth in the league with 191 receiving yards and has caught 15 passes (tied for 5th), including one for a touchdown.