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Georgia DL John Jenkins.

Green Bay Packers NFL Draft prospect profile: DL John Jenkins

Player Information:

John Jenkins, DL Georgia
6-4, 346 pounds
Hometown: Meriden, CT

STATS

NFL Combine:

Bench: 30 reps

News and Notes:

Weight fluctuated between 336 and 376 pounds at Georgia. … He says he’s now educated on how to keep his weight down and weight will not be an issue in the NFL. … Body type screams nose tackle, but he played several positions on the D-line at Georgia. … Totaled 78 tackles and four sacks over four years at Georgia. … Credited with 14 QB pressures in two seasons, a lot for a guy his size. … Compares to B.J. Raji, both in his body type and tendency to get wiped out by double teams.

What they’re saying about him:   Read more... (718 words + 1 image, estimated 2:52 mins reading time)

• NFL.com: “Jenkins is a massive junior college transfer with great upside as a run-stuffer, but is limited to being a nose tackle in a 3-4 scheme because of his lack of quickness. His impressive size and strength will likely make him coveted, but needs to improve his balance and pad-level.”
• Doug Farrar: ”Will dance through trash in tight spaces and keeps the effort toward the ballcarrier even after he’s blocked out of a play. Comes off the snap with good intensity and gets into “fighting stance” quickly. Can play well enough in multiple gaps, though he’s ideally an interior defender at the NFL level. Played some end at Georgia and did it well enough for it to be a part of his NFL palette.”

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Packers DE Mike Neal

Defensive end Mike Neal served a four-game suspension to start the 2012 season. And now that he’s eligible to return to the field, the team has activated him to the 53-man roster.

Neal practiced with the team this past week, and he’s now available to play tomorrow against the Indianapolis Colts. Sunday’s game will be a bit of a homecoming for Neal, who was born in Merrillville–about 150 miles north of Indianapolis.

The Packers selected Neal in the second round of the 2010 NFL Draft, but he’s appeared in just nine games in two NFL seasons. Still, Neal remains one of the Packers’ most athletic defensive linemen, and the team hopes he can provide a push up the middle.

Green Bay’s pass rush has registered 15 sacks through four games this season. However, the interior of the defensive line has been unable to generate much of a pass rush. None of the Packers’ six defensive lineman to play this season currently holds a positive grade in the pass rush department, according to Pro Football Focus.

To make room for Neal, the Packers cut veteran defensive end Phillip Merling.

The Packers signed Merling this summer as an unrestricted free agent from the Miami Dolphins. After an impressive training camp, the coaching staff decided to keep Merling over defensive lineman Daniel Muir while Neal served his suspension.  Read more... (299 words + 1 image, estimated 1:12 mins reading time)

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Defensive Ends (Defensive Linemen): Here’s the seventh of a series of articles and first for the defense, looking specifically at the NFL combine and the Packers’ drafting tendencies. (Read here for the rationale for this series, here for quarterbacks, here for running backs, here for wide receivers, here for tight ends,  here for offensive tackles and here for offensive interior linemen).  This article will use the combine numbers from previous players drafted by GM Ted Thompson as a guide for what defensive ends are likely to fit into the Packers’ scheme.

Again, this is merely an attempt to make a best guess based on statistics at which players the Packers might be interested in, game tape naturally trumps combine numbers, so take all of this with a grain of salt.  But I believe it will make for some interesting discussion.  Also listed below are also two defensive ends in this year’s draft who I think fit the Packers scheme the best, based on their combine numbers.

Statistics of offensive interior linemen drafted by the Packers:  Read more... (1211 words + 1 image, estimated 4:51 mins reading time)

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