Jenkins focused on work, not contract
PHILADELPHIA » In a league littered with contract holdouts, all of the Eagles were accounted for, including Malcolm Jenkins.
The veteran safety declined comment about the contract he’s unhappy with in the wake of monster extensions that have gone out to less accomplished players at his position.
Most recently Jenkins could make a pretty good argument that he belongs to be in the compensation neighborhood with Titans safety Kevin Byard, who recently inked a five-year $70.5 million extension. But he didn’t. “At this point I’m here and looking forward to getting better individually and making this team better,” Jenkins said. “This is the place where I come to work and have fun, enjoy my teammates. It’s not about me when I step out here.”
Running back Melvin Gordon is a Chargers holdout. The Redskins have a holdout in star left offense tackle Trent Williams. The Cowboys are unsure if running back Zeke Elliott will join them for camp in Oxnard, Calif. Receiver Michael Thomas is holding out on the Saints, defensive end Yannick Ngakoue on the Jaguars.
Jenkins, the only Eagle to play every defensive snap last year, won’t even entertain a less-ismore type of role. Jenkins felt threatened when coach Dave Fipp approached him with less of a role on special teams – in addition to all of the defensive snaps.
“I’m not allowing that,” Jenkins said. “I know the coaching staff and they do a decent job of limiting some of the special teams reps that I have. For me, I feel good throughout the year when it comes to game days. The coaches do a good job of limiting my plays in practice, making sure I don’t put on too much mileage. For me its never really been an issue.”
The contract isn’t an issue, either. Not now. Jenkins has filed it away with the sky-high expectations outsiders have for the Eagles’ season.
“You don’t listen to it,” Jenkins said of the hype. “At the end of the day you focus on your process. We don’t win games based off of what people say about us. We don’t lose games based off of what people say about us. We win or lose on our preparation, on what we do on this field. That’s where the focus is. As long as we continue to get better every day, we feel like we can compete with anybody. But we also know that if we don’t we’ll get our ass whipped.”
••• Carson Wentz practiced sparingly Thursday but is a full-go physically, according to Doug Pederson.
The Eagles have four quarterbacks in camp, the others Nate Sudfeld, Cody Kessler and rookie Clayton Thorson, the fifth-round pick out of Northwestern.
Wentz and the other quarterbacks have pitch counts.
“We’re going to continue to monitor it,” Pederson said. “(Wentz has) obviously been doing some great things. We’ve always monitored throws every day just to kind of keep it down as much as we can. We don’t want to fatigue anybody’s arm or anything like that.”
••• NOTES » Rookie running back Miles Sanders of Penn State got his first action with the veterans, Wentz handing him the ball on the first play of 11 on 11’s. Sanders had been slowed by a sore hamstring ... Among the visitors Thursday were former Eagles head coach Dick Vermeil and Mike “Doc” Dougherty, the Ridley resident who was video director of the Birds for 37 years … Pederson has scheduled two days of tackling to the ground at training camp. Those days just might coincide with the joint practices with the Ravens. The Eagles host the Ravens, Aug. 22nd, the third week of their preseason … The Eagles resume practice Friday morning at their complex.