Philadelphia Eagles: 3 Reactions to a possible Malcolm Jenkins holdout

3. Let’s hope this gets worked out quickly and peacefully.

With all of that being said, it still feels like we haven’t said a ton. Here we are left to our own vices to try and figure out what’s going on. At the time of this writing, Jenkins has made no statement. We all figure that he’s gone the route of working out on is own, but maybe this isn’t as curious of a situation as we’re making it sound.

Maybe this is a good old fashion offseason dispute over the finances. This isn’t the first time we’ve seen this in the NFL. It definitely won’t be the last.

He’s not in a contract year. He’s currently got four years remaining on his deal, one that he signed on February 22nd of 2016 that will pay him $11.3 million in 2019. That makes him the fourth-highest paid player on the roster, but after 2019, according to Over the Cap, there’s no guaranteed salary in 2020, 2021, or 2022 (there isn’t one in 2019 either).

Add to that the fact that, in 2021 and 2022, he has no base salary. Get this. The way it currently stands, the $1.5 million he’ll be making in both of those seasons is structured as a prorated bonus. The Eagles have been quite busy restructuring deals and moving around money to get salary cap issues under control and to dish out money to keep some familiar faces in town. It may be time to ‘fix’ Jenkins’ deal as well.

According to Over the Cap, Philly’s got $25.5 million in cap room, which is probably closer to $20 million after the signing of Blake Countess and Zach Brown. There are a ton of safeties who have seen significant pay increases over the past few months, and that, now, makes ’27’ the tenth-highest paid safety in the NFL. Jenkins may be looking at that, looking at his own skill set and thinking he deserves a pay raise.

Let’s hope things get worked out quickly. If he’s a no show for minicamp, scheduled for June 11th until June 13th, he could be looking at possible fines. Hopefully, something substantial will be worked out by then.