Cullen Jenkins

[Patler]

But in your head, unlike T2's, you operate without a budget. A decent pass rusher making $5 mil who had spent two or three years missing significant parts of games is not a strong investment opportunity. Remember all the speculation about what happened to Jenkins, why he wasn't MORE effective? Fritz is quite right we spent much more time wondering what was wrong with him than celebrating his success. It was assumed it was leftover injury issues, as he was nicked up a lot. That continued in Philly though it did not cost him a ton of games. In 2010, Howard Green filled in for him and the D didn't seem to miss him.

The bolded statement sums up my feeling better than I conveyed it myself!

We know now that as currently constituted, the Packers had no one else for the opposing O to be worried about besides Matthews. Raji has not been a consistent threat. But that doesn't make Jenkins a smart answer at that dollar figure.

That was certainly true for 2011, but that team didn't have a number of players that 2012 had and 2013 hopefully will have. Neal is the guy I just don't have any handle on. He had flashes as a rookie that were promising before losing the season. 2011 was an absolute waste for him. 2012 made me hopeful, but not excited that he can make somewhat of a difference. Somehow they were more effective overall in 2012 than in 2011. I'm not convinced that the 2013 version of Jenkins will improve that. I am more hopeful that development of Neal, Daniels, Perry and others will help. A consistent performance from Raji would be nice, too.

Right now, his agent is telling people he has six teams that want to talk to him. He is scheduled to travel to San Fran and Seattle. If there is a deal on the table now, his price might not be coming down.

I wonder how much of that is "agent speak." Maybe in his mind SF + Seattle = 6?

Maybe a number of teams think he is a good deal at a contract for vet. min. + just a little? We don't know what the agent is telling the teams about what Jenkins is willing to accept.

[Fritz]

I just don't see Jenkins bringing enough to the team to justify any kind of contract that will eat much into the money set aside for Rodgers/Matthews. Which, by the way, is the tandem mentioned most often in terms of renegotiating or extending contracts. Nobody's talking about Raji. Did he sign a rook contract that was a year longer than Matthews's?

[Bretsky]

I doubt anybody would argue we should sign Jenkins for anywhere near what he received before.
Jenkins will probably, IMO, get 2-2.5MIL per year with part of that coming from a modest signing bonus.
His agent is hyping the number of teams interested; there may be.....but the price tag won't be that high
Would you give Jenkins 1.5-2.5MIL per year on a two to three year deal ?

[Fritz]

I doubt anybody would argue we should sign Jenkins for anywhere near what he received before.
Jenkins will probably, IMO, get 2-2.5MIL per year with part of that coming from a modest signing bonus.
His agent is hyping the number of teams interested; there may be.....but the price tag won't be that high
Would you give Jenkins 1.5-2.5MIL per year on a two to three year deal ?

No, I wouldn't. Not at all.

When you're Russ Ball and you're in the midst of intense contract negotiations with Rodgers's or Matthews's agent, you're going to need every nickle if you want a contract that isn't going to blow up the team down the road.

[pbmax]

The bolded statement sums up my feeling better than I conveyed it myself!

Bretsky and Smuggler are making me try to remember why I thought it was a good idea not to pay him. Took awhile for the memories to click in! Fritz and smuggler's posts helped quite a bit, because in my immediate recollection, he lost his starters job in 2011 which turned out not to be entirely true. But he effectively lost it due to unavailability or ineffectiveness when recovering from something.

Frankly, if healthy and not nicked up, he might well be worth his Eagles salary considering how well he fits at 3-4 DE and inside rush.

But he never stayed completely healthy. And he is marginal enough that to spend money now, even discounted, makes little sense unless he is still on the market after the draft and the second wave of FA. The Eagles didn't release him because their defense was too good with him.

I have doubts about Neal, Worthy and Daniels all (even BJ), but they are getting better. Jenkins is getting older. I loved him on the team, just not sure it makes sense unless there is a roster hole and he is discounted.

[pbmax]

I doubt anybody would argue we should sign Jenkins for anywhere near what he received before.
Jenkins will probably, IMO, get 2-2.5MIL per year with part of that coming from a modest signing bonus.
His agent is hyping the number of teams interested; there may be.....but the price tag won't be that high
Would you give Jenkins 1.5-2.5MIL per year on a two to three year deal ?

No, I wouldn't. Not at all.

When you're Russ Ball and you're in the midst of intense contract negotiations with Rodgers's or Matthews's agent, you're going to need every nickle if you want a contract that isn't going to blow up the team down the road.

3 years might give me pause. But if I knew what was happening to Raji, Matthews and had a number for Rodgers, then I might do that dollar amount if:

Canty doesn't sign here and Worthy is definitely out for the season. After FA and the draft, there are no immediate candidates except developmental Guys.

Then I can see this happening. But then it comes down to the "its just a business" thing. Jenkins might want to know with certainty before April where he will be playing. He is backup DE and rotates in to spell Neal and Raji in nickel and dime.

[3irty1]

Seeing as how the Packers already have Neal and Daniels as interior pass rushers I don't really see a big need for Jenkins. I'd be more interested in grabbing another CJ Wilson type of guy. A workhorse who can be trusted to defend the run, be versatile, and shoulder a bunch of snaps.

Jean Francois is just 26 and unrestricted. I kind of thought he was a big lumbering tard when he was at LSU but he's played decent ball for the 49ers and should come cheap. I'd rather get him.

[Pugger]

If the choice is between Canty and Jenkins I'd sign the younger guy. I find it telling - if his agent is correct - that Canty is actually coming in for a visit on Wednesday and Jenkins is not. Jean Francois is even younger and might be a more interesting candidate to check out.

[hoosier]

I thought the negative on Jenkins in 2010 was the impression that he did too much freelancing in search of personal stats and didn't stay within the scheme. I have no idea if that impression was accurate or not, just remember it floating around as a reason for the Packers not to enter the Cullen Jenkins market.

[Guiness]

I thought the negative on Jenkins in 2010 was the impression that he did too much freelancing in search of personal stats and didn't stay within the scheme. I have no idea if that impression was accurate or not, just remember it floating around as a reason for the Packers not to enter the Cullen Jenkins market.

I don't remember that - did he have a problem with the scheme?

I'm a little surprised at the negativity towards Jenkins here. I always thought he was a pretty effective player, who only real problem was staying on the field. He was a good inside rusher at DT, getting sacks that are rare from that position, and was stout against the run at DE - when he first started getting significant playtime it was because he replaced KGB on running downs. When the Pack switched to 3-4, he was thought to be the prototypical size for a 3-4 DE, the only one on our roster at the time!

So, aside from getting injured, I'm not sure what the knock against his play with the Pack is. I'd be a little concerned about age now, but I wouldn't scoff at his 4.5 sacks - that equals Neale, who led out DL!

Don't get me wrong, I don't think we should break the bank, but I do think he would be a contributor to the team if he landed back here.

[3irty1]

It does kind of seem like Dom had a few boners for Mr. Jenkins. I submit as evidence the Google keywords "Dom Capers Cullen Jenkins Linebacker." There was a JSO article about how Dom was giving him a shot at outside linebacker because he was such a smooth athlete for his size. I don't think he was ever going to be a starter or anything, it was probably just a wrinkle that would never get used but it does show that Dom saw some unique ability in him.

Also we haven't done that 1-5, psycho thing as much since he left.

[pbmax]

It does kind of seem like Dom had a few boners for Mr. Jenkins. I submit as evidence the Google keywords "Dom Capers Cullen Jenkins Linebacker." There was a JSO article about how Dom was giving him a shot at outside linebacker because he was such a smooth athlete for his size. I don't think he was ever going to be a starter or anything, it was probably just a wrinkle that would never get used but it does show that Dom saw some unique ability in him.

Also we haven't done that 1-5, psycho thing as much since he left.

Now you are really taxing my memory. But I think the OLB talk was out of consideration for Jenkins not initially being enthusiastic about eating blocks in a two gapping DE 5 tech spot. That went nowhere fast in the first year of Capers.

I barely remember something about freelancing, but was it Jenkins involved in that story? Because the run D each year was solid so it would have to be pass rush.

[pbmax]

3 years might give me pause. But if I knew what was happening to Raji, Matthews and had a number for Rodgers, then I might do that dollar amount if:

Canty doesn't sign here and Worthy is definitely out for the season. After FA and the draft, there are no immediate candidates except developmental Guys.

Then I can see this happening. But then it comes down to the "its just a business" thing. Jenkins might want to know with certainty before April where he will be playing and what he will be asked to do. Here he is backup DE and rotates in to spell Neal and Raji in nickel and dime.

Corrected. Sometimes the brain goes faster than the two fingers responsible for transcription.

[Fritz]

It does kind of seem like Dom had a few boners for Mr. Jenkins. I submit as evidence the Google keywords "Dom Capers Cullen Jenkins Linebacker." There was a JSO article about how Dom was giving him a shot at outside linebacker because he was such a smooth athlete for his size. I don't think he was ever going to be a starter or anything, it was probably just a wrinkle that would never get used but it does show that Dom saw some unique ability in him.

Also we haven't done that 1-5, psycho thing as much since he left.

Geez, after that line I thought you were going to write that you googled "dom capers boner cullen jenkins."

Whew.

[hoosier]

I don't remember that - did he have a problem with the scheme?

I'm a little surprised at the negativity towards Jenkins here. I always thought he was a pretty effective player, who only real problem was staying on the field. He was a good inside rusher at DT, getting sacks that are rare from that position, and was stout against the run at DE - when he first started getting significant playtime it was because he replaced KGB on running downs. When the Pack switched to 3-4, he was thought to be the prototypical size for a 3-4 DE, the only one on our roster at the time!

So, aside from getting injured, I'm not sure what the knock against his play with the Pack is. I'd be a little concerned about age now, but I wouldn't scoff at his 4.5 sacks - that equals Neale, who led out DL!

Don't get me wrong, I don't think we should break the bank, but I do think he would be a contributor to the team if he landed back here.

According to JSO he had a problem with the scheme as it was originally presented to him, or as he initially understood his role in it, but then supposedly he warmed up to it after hearing that he wasn't destined to a supporting role of absorbing blockers all game long. As for the free lancing, I do not recall if that is something that was written about on JSO or talked about here. It would make sense that it had to do with passrush: he had 7 sacks in 2010, a healthy number for a guy who missed 5+ games. I don't think D linemen are supposed to put up those numbers in a Capers defense.