Philadelphia Eagles DT Timmy Jernigan discusses his long road back
With the Philadelphia Eagles’ second game of 2019 approaching, Timmy Jernigan took some time to hang out with the Philly media.
It’s been a long time since Timmy Jernigan started a game opposite of Fletcher Cox for the Philadelphia Eagles. The last time those two were paired as the starters, things worked out pretty well as Philly rode the work put in by both their offensive and defensive lines to the first Super Bowl win in franchise history.
The Eagles offensive line won the Built Ford Tough Offensive Line of the Year Award for 2017. The defensive line held their own all season as well. Jernigan’s addition was a part of that upgrade as the Eagles traded their 74th-overall selection in 2017’s NFL Draft to the Baltimore Ravens for the 99th-overall selection and Jernigan’s services.
The move worked out well for Philly as Jernigan was an important piece of the Eagles’ championship run, but things change quickly in the NFL.
After his first nine games in Philly, the Eagles brass rewarded Jernigan with a four-year, $48 million contract extension. After Philly’s last win of the season, the one where they hoisted the Lombardi Trophy, Jernigan would learn he’d need back surgery.
He went under the knife on May 3rd of 2018, and he’s been working to get back to being the Jernigan we all know and expect to see on the field ever since.
That led to a roller-coaster ride where he went from the reserve/non-football injury list to start the 2018 season to being activated off of that on November 20th of 2018 to seeing the option on his contract declined. Jernigan would become a free agent on March 4th of 2019, but the Eagles would re-sign him to a one-year deal on April 25th.
Less than five months later, Malik Jackson would be placed on the IR, and Jernigan was back in a familiar position, starting next to Fletcher Cox at defensive tackle. Recently he spoke on the journey.
"At the end of the day, that’s all behind me. I’m here, and I’m just ready to move forward with my career and this team… (A full training camp) helped a lot… I still held my own, but the training camp helped me out a lot… First thing’s first, we stop the run, and everything else will take care of itself."
Here’s more from Jernigan and Eagles running back Jordan Howard. There’s a lot of good stuff in this one.
Clip courtesy of the Eagles’ official YouTube channel
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Ladies and gentlemen, if that doesn’t pique your curiosity, then you may need to check your pulse. The Eagles’ second game of the 2019 NFL campaign is one where they’ll meet a familiar opponent, the Atlanta Falcons. We’ll see how effective Jernigan is in that one and if Howard plays a bigger role as well.