By: Mark Menard
When the Saints claimed cornerback Janoris Jenkins, nicknamed “Jackrabbit,” off the NFL waiver wire in December, it was seen by most as an immediate upgrade over then-current starter Eli Apple.
Now, just weeks away from the 2020 campaign, Jenkins has had a full offseason to get acclimated with the Saints’ defensive scheme and is expected to be a much better complement to Marshon Lattimore in the secondary.
Plus, as Radio.com’s Brian Baldinger pointed out on WWL Radio Tuesday night, it’s also a long-awaited chance to play for a winner for a player who has long toiled on the NFL’s bottom-feeders.
Janoris Jenkins has been with the Rams, and he’s been with the Giants. And he really hasn’t experienced winning.
There’s just something that happens to any player when they go from a place where it just feels toxic, it doesn’t feel like they’re doing the right things, to a place where you know that’s all they wanna do is do the right things. I think Janoris Jenkins gets on that team right now, you’ll see the best of the Jackrabbit.
He’s a great man-to-man player. He does have good instincts. He does have good hands. I just think with the pass rush that they have, the leadership that they have on that team, the fact that in a lot of games they’re going to be playing with the lead, teams are gonna have to throw the ball…. I think it’s a great situation for him.
They’re expected to win. They expect to win. That’s just got to do a lot for a player’s mind that still feels like he’s got some football left to play.
Jenkins will be thrown right into one of the season’s toughest matchups right from the season’s opening kickoff. He and Lattimore will endeavor to shut down Tom Brady and the Tampa Buccaneers in Week 1.
