News: Michigan Football’s Kris Jenkins Primed to Turn Heads at NFL Combine – Here’s Why
The NFL Scouting Combine begins this week in Indianapolis (Feb. 26-March 4). And among the record 18 Michigan football players who will be in attendance is defensive tackle Kris Jenkins.
Below, we look at Jenkins’ career at Michigan, what scouts like about his game, drawbacks to his scouting profile and preview his week at the NFL Combine.
Kris Jenkins’s career at Michigan
Arriving at Michigan as a three-star prospect, Jenkins redshirted in 2020 before appearing in all 14 games with four starts in 2021.
Jenkins kept adding mass, and that paid off with a breakout 2022 in which he started 14 games at defensive tackle, led all defensive linemen with 54 tackles and added 3.5 tackles for loss, two sacks and two quarterback hurries. He was initially certain he’d return to Ann Arbor in 2023, but NFL Draft interest made him reconsider — though he ultimately did stay with Michigan for a fourth and final season.
That paid off, as Jenkins started all 15 games, made 37 tackles with 4.5 for loss, 2.5 sacks, three quarterback hurries, one fumble recovery, and one interception as he helped lead the best DT unit in college football to a championship.
Kris Jenkins: What NFL scouts like
Jenkins earned the nickname “Mutant” at Michigan and appeared in the top-10 of The Athletic’s freaks list ahead of the 2023 season. As Bruce Feldman wrote:
Jenkins recently did a Turkish get-up with a 170-pound dumbbell — the heaviest Herbert has ever witnessed. Jenkins does pull-ups with a 100-pound weight strapped to his waist. He also moves incredibly well for being a 300-plus pounder, running a 7.16 3-cone, a 4.33 shuttle, broad-jumping 9-8 and vertical-jumping 34 inches.
Jenkins’ shuttle and 3-cone times are both almost two-tenths of a second faster than the quickest interior defensive lineman did at this year’s NFL combine. His broad jump would be tied for the best. His vertical jump would be second-best.
That athleticism translated to the football field, particularly in the ground game. According to PFF, Jenkins led all defensive linemen in the country in run stops in 2022. Though he battled through an ankle injury for much of 2023, he was again elite at stopping the run, logging an 82.3 grade from PFF. The service also logged him at 18 QB hurries last fall, a career high despite playing in 118 fewer snaps than 2022.
Finally, Jenkins comes from a football family and possesses the pedigree that NFL scouts love. He’s the son of former second-round draft pick and four-time All-Pro defensive tackle Kris Jenkins. He has a magnetic personality and was voted captain by his Michigan peers.
Kris Jenkins: What NFL scouts don’t like
Jenkins could use continued refinement as a pass rusher, an facet of his game that particularly stood out in contrast to Mason Graham and Kenneth Grant.
Pro Football Network notes he “still doesn’t have a deep counter arsenal and needs to flesh out his pass-rushing bag” and is “still learning how to sequence his rushing moves with consistency and precision.”
Other potential knocks are Jenkins’ ability to handle double teams and his technique when athleticism alone aren’t enough to win a block.
Jenkins arrives at the NFL Combine with a high floor — he’s stout against the run, and has all the strength and athleticism you could ask for — but questions about his ceiling if he can’t round out his pass rush.
What Kris Jenkins can show at the NFL Combine
Events like the NFL Combine are made for players like Kris Jenkins. He should test exceptionally well, giving franchises reasons to believe that with continued coaching, his pass-rushing arsenal and technique will expand to match the athleticism that earned him the “Mutant” nickname.
If the numbers shared by The Athletic’s freaks list are accurate, Jenkins could be topping the defensive tackle charts in agility drills (3-cone, shuttle) and in the bench press.
Jenkins should also interview very well.
Kris Jenkins: Current NFL Draft projection
Pro Football Focus has Jenkins at No. 58 on their Big Board and as the third-best interior defensive lineman.
The Mock Draft Database suggests Jenkins could go in the 2nd round of the 2024 NFL Draft with an outside shot (~16%) of hearing his name called on day one.