Philadelphia Eagles: 5 candidates to replace Malcolm Jenkins at safety

With the Philadelphia Eagles declining the option for Malcolm Jenkins in 2020, here are five potential replacements for the team to consider at safety.

Ever since last season came to an official end for the Philadelphia Eagles, one of the biggest questions surrounding the NFC East champions was whether Malcolm Jenkins would return for a seventh season with the team.

As great as Jenkins has been for the Eagles over the last six years, the NFL is still a business at the end of the day, and with the veteran expressing in the past how unhappy he was over his contract situation, there was some speculation that Philadelphia would move on this offseason.

Turns out, this was exactly the case after the Eagles announced on Tuesday their plans not to exercise the contract option for Jenkins in 2020, meaning the veteran safety will be hitting the open free agency market.

Between his role in helping Philadelphia win their first Super Bowl title a few years ago along with the leadership provided each game, replacing Jenkins on the defensive side of the football is going to be far from easy for the Eagles.

But of course, Philadelphia is going to do everything in their power to do so moving forward, whether it happens to come through signing someone in free agency or simply drafting a prospect in April.

Time will tell when it comes to determining which players the Eagles end up considering to fill the void left by Jenkins on defense to put the team in the best position possible to earn another trip to the playoffs in 2020 for a fourth year in a row.

For now, here are five names that immediately come to mind as far as replacing Jenkins is concerned from both free agency and the draft.