Can the Packers rely on Cullen Jenkins?

[Partial]

This guy seems to be habitually injured. Last year he said he had nagging injuries all year long which led to him under performing. I feel like he has missed significant time just about every year.

Any thoughts?

[Fritz]

Draft a couple of defensive ends and a couple of defensive tackles in 09.

Them's my thoughts.

[Patler]

I think no, they can not. Even before last year, and even though he played, Jenkins had other instances with injuries that made him questionable. Last year the coaches said he needed to play through his injuries better, and not let them impact the way he played as much as he did. Obviously, he did not have that opportunity this year, but I think that is a concern.

Kampman, Driver and others you know will show up on Sunday and play well even if they are dinged up. I do not get that feeling from Jenkins. If he is healthy he will play very well, but not many NFL players stay healthy the whole season. As he gets older, it is likely to only get worse for Jenkins.

[Patler]

Further to my last post, as you might recall, when they replaced KGB with Jenkins in 2006 they said they would have a couple weeks earlier, but Jenkins was hurt. So his ability to play DE has been limited for three consecutive years due to injuries.

[Freak Out]

Draft a couple of defensive ends and a couple of defensive tackles in 09.

Them's my thoughts.

Either through the draft or FA we need help on the D-Line. As far as Jenkins goes he has shown he cannot be counted on to be there when needed.

[texaspackerbacker]

Injuries are about 98% LUCK--like tossing a coin.

You toss a coin and it comes up heads ten times in a row, are you gonna bet that it comes up heads the next time? Math and logic says no.

Jenkins has been a good player when healthy. There's no indication his injuries should have a lingering effect. Giving up on him, therefore, would be foolish.

As for using half or more of the draft for D Linemen, I say no way. Nobody we have has been horrible--some kinda mediocre, a couple still needing development, but none that I would summarily get rid of. If we could draft one highly probable superstar D Lineman, yeah, do it. But anything you get from round 2 through 7 would probably be no better than what we have--especially in the short term.

[3irty1]

Injuries are about 98% LUCK--like tossing a coin.

You toss a coin and it comes up heads ten times in a row, are you gonna bet that it comes up heads the next time? Math and logic says no.

Jenkins has been a good player when healthy. There's no indication his injuries should have a lingering effect. Giving up on him, therefore, would be foolish.

As for using half or more of the draft for D Linemen, I say no way. Nobody we have has been horrible--some kinda mediocre, a couple still needing development, but none that I would summarily get rid of. If we could draft one highly probable superstar D Lineman, yeah, do it. But anything you get from round 2 through 7 would probably be no better than what we have--especially in the short term.

Playing though injuries or letting injuries affect your play is not luck though. Everybody gets hurt in the NFL. If the coaches think think he whines about injuries and lets them affect his play too much then that is cause for concern.

[texaspackerbacker]

Injuries are about 98% LUCK--like tossing a coin.

You toss a coin and it comes up heads ten times in a row, are you gonna bet that it comes up heads the next time? Math and logic says no.

Jenkins has been a good player when healthy. There's no indication his injuries should have a lingering effect. Giving up on him, therefore, would be foolish.

As for using half or more of the draft for D Linemen, I say no way. Nobody we have has been horrible--some kinda mediocre, a couple still needing development, but none that I would summarily get rid of. If we could draft one highly probable superstar D Lineman, yeah, do it. But anything you get from round 2 through 7 would probably be no better than what we have--especially in the short term.

Playing though injuries or letting injuries affect your play is not luck though. Everybody gets hurt in the NFL. If the coaches think think he whines about injuries and lets them affect his play too much then that is cause for concern.

Play through the injury Jenkins has? Are you kidding?

As for playing through lesser injuries, yeah, the Packers have been forced to do a lot of that--Hawk, Bigby, Woodson, Collins, etc. That's another large factor in the lousy performance on defense--in additon to the guys actually missing games.

You want to blame that on Sanders too? Yeah right.

If this does turn out to be one of those situations where somebody has to get fired to satisfy the idiots, then Moss would seem to be an acceptable replacement, as it seems safe to assume he would continue the same scheme.

[hoosier]

Injuries are about 98% LUCK--like tossing a coin.

You toss a coin and it comes up heads ten times in a row, are you gonna bet that it comes up heads the next time? Math and logic says no.
Jenkins has been a good player when healthy. There's no indication his injuries should have a lingering effect. Giving up on him, therefore, would be foolish.

As for using half or more of the draft for D Linemen, I say no way. Nobody we have has been horrible--some kinda mediocre, a couple still needing development, but none that I would summarily get rid of. If we could draft one highly probable superstar D Lineman, yeah, do it. But anything you get from round 2 through 7 would probably be no better than what we have--especially in the short term.

Sorry, but math and logic say it's 50-50 on the 11th toss. But Cullen Jenkins isn't a coin, he's a defensive lineman who seems to be injury prone. A better analogy: if you buy a Ford car and it breaks down, and then buy another and it too breaks down, and then buy a third and, sure enough, it also goes kaput, would you be dumb enough to buy a fourth?

[3irty1]

Injuries are about 98% LUCK--like tossing a coin.

You toss a coin and it comes up heads ten times in a row, are you gonna bet that it comes up heads the next time? Math and logic says no.

Jenkins has been a good player when healthy. There's no indication his injuries should have a lingering effect. Giving up on him, therefore, would be foolish.

As for using half or more of the draft for D Linemen, I say no way. Nobody we have has been horrible--some kinda mediocre, a couple still needing development, but none that I would summarily get rid of. If we could draft one highly probable superstar D Lineman, yeah, do it. But anything you get from round 2 through 7 would probably be no better than what we have--especially in the short term.

Playing though injuries or letting injuries affect your play is not luck though. Everybody gets hurt in the NFL. If the coaches think think he whines about injuries and lets them affect his play too much then that is cause for concern.

Play through the injury Jenkins has? Are you kidding?

As for playing through lesser injuries, yeah, the Packers have been forced to do a lot of that--Hawk, Bigby, Woodson, Collins, etc. That's another large factor in the lousy performance on defense--in additon to the guys actually missing games.

You want to blame that on Sanders too? Yeah right.

If this does turn out to be one of those situations where somebody has to get fired to satisfy the idiots, then Moss would seem to be an acceptable replacement, as it seems safe to assume he would continue the same scheme.

Obviously you can't play through everything but last year he became steadily less and less effective. Patler suggested a couple posts above that injuries affect his play more than some other guys. There is no doubt he is great when healthy but the best guys stay effective even when not at 100%.

The point you raised is why I'm actually something of a closet Harrell fan. Injuries can be bad luck but I like a guy who plays in college despite torn biceps. I don't think he's necessarily as soft as some people think, mostly unlucky.

[Partial]

Injuries are about 98% LUCK--like tossing a coin.

You toss a coin and it comes up heads ten times in a row, are you gonna bet that it comes up heads the next time? Math and logic says no.

Math and logic say that coin has a 50% chance of coming up heads. The probability of it happening are very slim to toss that many in a row, but past logic does not determine former logic.

With that said, that does not apply to football. Jenkins has been banged up continuously throughout his career and has never been able to reach his potential as a result. How many years can we keep a guy around that has a ton of potential and is great for 2-3 weeks, than not available for months at a time?!?

You can't do that in the NFL. Cap dollars and roster spots are far too valuable. When its a one time thing, fine, but guys like Harrell, Blackmon and Jenkins have had the injury bug since being in the NFL.

[texaspackerbacker]

I think we are pretty much in agreement. I still think Harrell could be an above average player too.

Some injuries can be gutted out, and some just slow you down and reduce quality of play no matter what--Hawk's groin, Bigby's knee, etc. Apparently, Woodson's toe is different. I really don't think it says anything about the guy's character. It's still luck as to what kind of injury it is.

Rarely, you get something like Marian Barber's finger that the guy wimps out, but I can't think of any of that with the Packers.

[Patler]

The comment I referred to was toward the end of last season. In an article about Jenkins year that did not meet expectations, it was either Hairston or Nunn I think who said they had been working very hard with Jenkins to get him to realize that he would rarely ever feel 100%. That he needed to figure out how to do what he can in spite of the injuries. He implied that Jenkins was allowing the injury to affect his play in ways that it shouldn't. I was surprised by the bluntness of the comment.

[Cheesehead Craig]

I think we do need to draft a DE in the first day of the draft. While Jenkins seems to play very good when healthy, we have seen how weak we are behind him should and injury occur. I don't think anyone is saying to give up on Jenkins, but we shouldn't be putting all our eggs in his basket at one of the DE spots given his injury history.

[Patler]

I think we do need to draft a DE in the first day of the draft. While Jenkins seems to play very good when healthy, we have seen how weak we are behind him should and injury occur. I don't think anyone is saying to give up on Jenkins, but we shouldn't be putting all our eggs in his basket at one of the DE spots given his injury history.

Not only depth for injury replacement. Kampman would probably benefit from not having to play 99.99% of the defensive snaps, too. He is entering a point in his career in which some rest might improve his effectiveness.