Early Wednesday morning, ESPN’S Adam Schefter reported that the New York Giants were expected to sign free agent cornerback Janoris Jenkins to a big contract, reportedly in the neighborhood of 5 years and $62 million.
Of bigger note is that it also reportedly includes $29 million fully guaranteed with about 12 million per year. That deal would put Jenkins just behind long-time cornerback Darrelle Revis as the second highest-paid cornerback in the NFL. While free agency is always a gamble in terms of return in investment for teams, Jenkins deal was too big of a payout for general manager Jerry Reese, and its evidence he knows he’s coming into a make or break season for the Giants and his job.
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Don’t get me wrong; Jenkins is a young player who played very well last season. And yes, cornerback was a position of need for the Giants, as their pass coverage was abysmal in 2015. But safety, linebacker and most importantly pass rush from the defensive line were all bigger problems, and the Giants apparently paid Jenkins as if cornerback was the missing link last season.
Every year at the start of free agency there are always a handful of players that get huge pay raises with the hopes that they will come in and “save” the franchises that signed them.
Ndamukong Suh was that guy for the Miami Dolphins last season, and while on paper he seemed to be exactly what the Dolphins needed, his play did not seem to equal his deal(pretty hard to do at 100 million); both Suh and the Dolphins apparently saw this and have restructured his deal 1 year later, probably in the hopes to rebuild yet again. Hopefully the Giants aren’t having to consider this next year with Jenkins, as 12 million a year should equal Pro Bowl like play.
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Reese might be setting Jenkins up for failure if he doesn’t bring in some pass rushing talent soon. It doesn’t matter how good a cornerback is if the opposing team’s quarterback has time to throw. Jenkins had a good pass rush in St. Louis, and it made his job a lot easier. If Reese and the Giants think the recent re-signing of Jason Pierre-Paul will accomplish that they are going to be disappointed big time.
In any event, Jenkins played well enough last season to garner a bigger contract, but not franchise tag comparable money. The Rams kept Trumaine Johnson via a $14 million dollar franchise tag, meaning they viewed Jenkins not as the second best corner in the league, but only the second best on their own team.
The Giants panicked slightly by offering him this much money this early. Reese only has to look back to 2014 with the Rodgers-Cromartie contract to see what kind of value you can get if you are patient. They paid Rodgers-Cromartie, a Pro Bowl cornerback from last season with the Giants, much much less to sign with New York.
While Jenkins is younger and has arguably more potential than DRC, Pro Football Focus rated Rodgers-Cromartie higher than Jenkins last season. The well-known and obvious point is this: money does not equal production, and with all the needs the Giants have on defense, 12 million for Jenkins was way too much money, as they have much bigger holes to fill.
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Time will tell if the Giants, and more specifically Reese, regret paying Jenkins such a huge amount of money.