Janoris Jenkins and the New Orleans Saints are an elite duo
By Drake Lohse
Cornerback Janoris Jenkins and the New Orleans Saints have agreed to a two year, $16.75 million contract extension.
As reported by NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport, the deal will be added to the remaining season of Janoris Jenkins’ previous contract, meaning his contract’s value will be raised to $27 million over three years with $10.2 million guaranteed. That’s not a terrible deal for the New Orleans Saints.
Jenkins was picked up off waivers by the Saints after playing nearly all of last season with the Giants, who signed him to a mega, $62.5 million contract in 2016.
Jenkins impressed fans early.
He recorded his first pick in a Saints’ uniform shortly after signing on, late in a win against the Carolina Panthers. He had arguably his best performance when the team needed him most, notching 8 tackles, one forced fumble and a half-sack in last season’s wild-card heartbreaker.
Even with Wednesday’s departure of safety Vonn Bell, the Saints now have one of the most fearsome secondaries in all of football, just in time for Tom Brady’s arrival in Tampa. But do they have enough pieces to cover any hole in a division where it’s unaffordable to have one?
The Saints have bough in the XFL’s leader in interceptions, Deatrick Nichols, along with former Saint, Malcolm Jenkins. They’ve resigned D.J. Swearinger, Justin Hardee, and now Janoris Jenkins.
They have Patrick Robinson to man the nickel corner spot, hopefully allowing CGJ the opportunity to roam.
Robinson, however, looked to be regressing last year, and that was when he was on the field. The 32-year-old broke his ankle in week 3 and didn’t look all that promising upon return.
A lot of teams would be satisfied with the secondary depth the Saints have. But, in reality, they have 3 young studs (Lattimore, Chauncey Gardner-Johnson, Marcus Williams) and a whole lot of older players.
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Free-agent P.J. Williams is on the verge of departing, and the Saints will need to ask themselves if they have fresh enough legs to keep up with the high flying offenses of the NFC South. That said, Jenkins was a solid addition and will look to get a high number of snaps this coming season.