Message to the Philadelphia Eagles: Pay Malcolm Jenkins

Here’s a message to the Philadelphia Eagles. It’s time to pay Malcolm Jenkins. Everyone wants him here. He’s proven he deserves his money.

Ladies and gentlemen, by now, you’ve all heard the good news. The Philadelphia Eagles began the mandatory portion of minicamp, and Malcolm Jenkins answered a lot of questions by showing up. There is, however, one thing that hasn’t been answered definitively.

What are Philly’s plans about giving the man his money? If you think that’s an issue that’s evaporated, you’re fooling yourself. Let’s all dig a little deeper.

Just about everyone who was interested has probably seen Avengers: Endgame by now, and we all had to fight back tears as Steve Rogers (Captain America) gave his shield to his good buddy Sam Wilson (Falcon) and prior to that when Iron Man sacrificed himself with the snap of a finger. There is some good news to report though.

Iron Man didn’t die at all. As a matter of fact, his true identity is Malcolm Jenkins and last season, he played every single snap and helped will his team to the playoffs and, ultimately, a playoff win in Chicago.

Jenkins’ impact on his teammates both on and off of the field can’t be denied. If you need any evidence of that just watch any clip of him during Philly’s first ever Super Bowl victory. Here’s one. Check this out:

Clip courtesy of the NFL’s official YouTube channel

Perhaps two of the lowest moments in the history of the Eagles, from a fan’s standpoint has to be when Reggie White and Brian Dawkins left. In both instances, ‘The Birds’ let two future Pro Football Hall of Fame inductees leave over money. We can all argue over whether Jenkins is a Hall of Famer or not, but here’s what we do know.

This isn’t meant to be disrespectful, but anyone on the current roster who Philly might roll out with the idea of starting in his place at safety isn’t the same guy. Yes, there’s a ton of talent on this roster, but you’ll lose something, either in leadership or on-field production.

’27’ spoke on his desire for a new deal on Tuesday:

"I think, like any other business, you look at what the market value is, and based off of your production, what that value is. When you’re under contract, you can’t be the highest paid out there, nor would I want to be, but you want to be within the ballpark of what your value is."

There are eight higher-paid safeties in the league if we look at average salary (we’re talking $8.75 million for ’27’).  He also has little guaranteed money remaining on his current deal. This one is a long way from reaching a conclusion, but we’ve seen this story before at the Novacare Complex.

Philly and their executive vice president of football operations, Howie Roseman, will do the right thing. We’ve seen them do more with less. With a little more salary cap space than we’re used to seeing them have at this time of the year and with some positive conversation, this can get worked out.

Let’s hope it does. We didn’t get to see it with White and Dawkins, but it would be nice to see Jenkins play his final games in Eagles green. You know it. We all know it. Most importantly, the Eagles know it.