Question:
I read that about Jenkins and thought of you. I wonder where that puts
him in the draft?
One mock draft they just put at the top of the updated list on Miguel's
page had Schoebel in the 3rd to GB and Tomlinson in the 3rd to GB.
Obviously, I would give GB an A-, if that was true. I'd deduct for
letting them sit there that long.
Answer:
He's going to be one of these guys who is all over the board and who
would benefit greatly from a good combine. He didn't do squat in his
college career until his senior year. Of course, once in his senior
year, he was quite good on a totally mediocre team (but in a
respectable conference). Then, in the Senior Bowl, he's one of the
two DT starters on the North squad and totally outplays Ennis Davis,
and does more damage overall than any defensive tackle in the
game, including Stroud, K Smith, Howard, etc.
The one draftnik so far that has had the guts to rank Jenkins is
Joel Buschbaum of Pro Football Weekly, and he's ranking him a little
below Ennis Davis. It's hard to translate Joel's rankings into draft
positions, but offhand I'd say Joel is suggesting Jenkins is 3rd-4th
round material. My take on it is: huge upside with a lot of risk. He's
the kind of guy you would want to interview and get a feel for how
competitive he wants to be. He has the body, the physicals, the
capability. Question is, will he want to be an excellent ball player
and pay the price to be one? I'd also say the style of play that
Jenkins is using now wouldn't fit well in a 2 gap defense. In a
pressure defense where DL shoot gaps he'd be terrific.
Getting back to Schobel and Tomlinson, they're so variably rated. Joel
rates Tomlinson, McAllister, and Bennett equally, whereas there are
scouts (notably Brian Delucia) who doesn't like Tomlinson at all.