Throughout the summer leading up to the regular season, we will go through the entire 2024 Cincinnati Bengals roster. Every single day until the season opener against the New England Patriots , we will break down a player on the roster including his background, contract status, and path towards making the team.
Today, we take time to talk about rookie defensive tackle Kris Jenkins Jr. One of a few Jr.'s on the Bengals, most dedicated NFL fans remember Jenkins' father of the same name who earned four Pro Bowl nods as well as two All-Pro honors back in the 2000s. Two decades later, Kris Jr. is coming down from the top of the college football world and into the league his dad dominated for so many years.
Kris Jenkins Jr.
- Age: 22
- Year: 1st
- Position: Defensive tackle
- College: Michigan
- Previous Teams: None
- Jersey Number: 90
Jenkins was drafted by the Bengals with the 49th overall pick in the second round of the 2024 NFL Draft. He spent four years at Michigan and was redshirted as a freshman in 2020 after playing one game. He played the entire in 2021 and made the first of four starts in Week 3 as a 3-4 defensive end. He finally earned a full-time starting gig in 2022 and racked up career-highs in tackles (54) and sacks (2) on his way to earning All-Big Ten honorable mention. In 2023, he was voted a team captain as one of the true leaders of a roster that went on to win the National Championship. Jenkins earned Second Team All-American honors as well as Second Team All-Big Ten.
Stories of Jenkins' dedication in the weight room go back to his early days in Ann Arbor. He was nicknamed " The Mutant " for his otherworldly strength. 29 reps on the bench press along with a 4.91 40-yard dash time and 115" on the broad jump verified his freakish power and explosion.
Seven defensive tackles went off the board before Jenkins was selected by the Bengals. This came at a bit of a surprise considering how clean his tape and character evaluation came out to be. He wasn't the most productive in terms of making plays in the backfield for Michigan, which may've slid him down boards for other teams. That wasn't the case for Cincinnati. Defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo said he was " squinting for an hour " to make sure Jenkins' name hadn't come off the board.
Anarumo had every reason to want Jenkins in his defensive tackle rotation. What Jenkins lacked in sacks, he made up for in power at the point of attack in run defense. The Bengals were porous when it came to stopping the run last year, and with DJ Reader no longer around, new blood was needed to plug interior gaps. Jenkins fits the profile of an early-down defensive tackle who can one-gap or two-gap at different alignments. His size, strength, quickness, and IQ make him an already versatile asset.
Contract details
Jenkins signed a four-year, $7,860,464 deal earlier this offseason that will pay him the minimum rookie salary of $795,000 (fully guaranteed) for the 2024 season.
When adding on the $2,536,700 signing bonus that will be prorated throughout the entirety of his deal, Jenkins' cap hit for the season will be $1,429,175.
Roster outlook
Now that we've entered the territory of roster locks, we'll start looking at what role players like Jenkins will have instead of his guaranteed percentage of making the team.
Jenkins earned his first start at defensive tackle on Saturday with starters B.J. Hill and Sheldon Rankins watching from the sideline. This indicates that Jenkins is clearly inside the top four on the depth chart, which was always a reasonable expectation as a second-round pick. When the regular season arrives, it won't be shocking if he's the first interior player off the bench to give Hill and Rankins breathers.
Several hundred snaps are in store for Jenkins as the rookie's particular skillset will be counted on from the get-go.
Projected role: Rotational defensive tackle
Previous player breakdowns
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