When you consider the likes of Stafford, Oher, Monroe, Raji, J.Smith, Orakpo, Curry, Crabtree will all probably be taken by the time we reach our no.9 pick, I believe that it is a no-brainer and we will draft Malcolm Jenkins. I think teams will be picky over his 40 times and downgrade him causing him to fall to us.
People seem to put too much stock in his 40 times but the fact is he is NOT slow. You got to remember that this is football not a track meet. When you look at the footballing skills he is one of the best.
the nfl.com combine profile says:
There isn't much NFL scouts don't like about Jenkins. Athletic, intelligent and consistent, Jenkins surprised many when he elected to return for his senior season despite a first-round grade from the NFL Advisory Committee in 2008. The three-time first-team All-Big Ten pick and two-time All-American improved his overall consistency, winning the Thorpe Award as the nation's elite defensive back as a senior. A shutdown cornerback who intercepted 11 passes over the past three years, Jenkins was effective at cutting the field in half and sometimes moved him to free safety to generate big plays. A first-round caliber prospect at safety or cornerback, Jenkins' consistent play and versatility should land him a spot in the draft's Top 10.
Athletic, intelligent, versatile and consistent. That is exactly what you want in ANY NFL player.
A shutdown cornerback who intercepted 11 passes over the past three years, Jenkins was effective at cutting the field in half and sometimes moved him to free safety to generate big plays.
Sounds like a guy who teams were forced to game plan for him. There is a reason why teams don't throw often to his side of the field. That kind of talent you have to consider very seriously. The NFL is a passing league. If you force teams to game plan against your corners/safeties...you will already have the edge over passing teams and force them to run the ball more often. Added to the fact that he is versatile, It could help Capers set up certain looks/formations and make it very hard for teams to game plan against us.
Ted Thompson said it doesn't matter if the 1st pick is not a starter straight away as long he has genuine footballing talent and will come in and produce eventually like Rodgers (but in a shorter time frame of course). Collins is no sure thing to re-sign and it would be good to have a good safety already in place to replace him if it happens. All good 3-4 teams have good safeties- Polomalu, Harrison and Reed to name but a few. He will add better quality depth which is important because injuries happens all the time and you want to be able to bring in a player without causing any major drop off in playing quality.
Jenkins is a leader, has the size and talent to be the cornerstone of our defence for years to come. Who knows maybe he will be good enough at cornerback to replace Harris or even Woodson eventually and prove everyone wrong about him being too slow for CB.
If you want to know how he compares to the top safeties in the draft, using the combine times, his 40 times is remarkably similar to Delmas and Chung. Most importantly are the 10 yrd split and cone times which indicates sudden movement and agility to change direction quickly.
Jenkins-
40 yards: 4.51
10 yard split: 1.47
Cone: 6.59
Delmas-
40 yards: 4.52
10 yard split: 1.53
Cone: 6.67
Chung-
40 yards: 4.49
10 yrd split: 1.49
Cone: N/A
As you can see there's not alot of difference between the three so you shouldn't have to worry about if he can play safety or not.
The point is we want to improve the QUALITY of our defence, if he doesn't start that doesn't matter. He will provide quality depth and will eventually get the starting spot within a year or two regardless whether it is at corner or at safety. I think he would be an extremely safe pick and best player available at no.9. There would be plenty of OLB and OT to be found in the 2nd and 3rd round so i would not be worried about taking Jenkins with our 1st pick.