Barrett Brooks explains why he’s most interested in the defensive side of the ball during Eagles OTAs.
Two-time Super Bowl champion and tri-state area legend Malcolm Jenkins may have retired from football earlier this year, but that doesn't mean he's going anywhere.
Jenkins has increased his visibility outside the game of football in recent years, and this week he popped up in a very logical place: chopping it up with diehard Eagles fan and Philly native Kevin Hart on Hart's YouTube show, 'Cold As Balls'.
The show, a masochistic inverse of popular YouTube series 'Hot Ones', showcases Hart and his guest of the week talking while sitting in ice baths. (Jenkins, of course, is no stranger to ice baths.)
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As expected, the conversation eventually turned to football. Hart asked the Eagles legend about the unique challenges of playing in the secondary and Jenkins had a hilarious anecdote about his time playing in Philadelphia:
"JENKINS: [Playing corner] is stressful. It is stress-ful. The thing about corner is, you give up one play and that play is a touchdown? That everybody sees? That one mistake you had? Don't let you fall or get broke off.
"[...]
NFL
"JENKINS: I got moved to safety my second year just to get on the field, but one of the things I realized was to play safety in our league, you've got to have the mindset to where you literally have amnesia.
"I've seen many - especially if you play in Philly, oh my God - I've seen too many corners in Philly just get destroyed.
"HART: Oh my God.
"JENKINS: I'm on the field, in the red zone, we're playing for our lives on the field, backs against the wall and I hear the crowd talking about one of my teammates: '[Noise] sucks, [noise] sucks', I'm like 'Yo, what?'
"HART: We're at home!
"JENKINS: We're at home!"
Look, Malcolm: sometimes so-and-so cornerback sucks!
But playing corner and safety really does seem absolutely anxiety-inducing. You're constantly on the back foot, reacting to what's coming at you, and often there's no help. It's up to you to stop things from going horribly wrong. It's why the best corners in the league get paid big bucks - and why inconsistent corners get roasted.
And Jenkins certainly took the field with some inconsistent corners. Here's a brief but effective list of notable Eagles CBs between the 2013 season and the 2019 season who may have received a little heckling from Birds fans:
- Bradley Fletcher
- Cary Williams
- Byron Maxwell
- Leodis McKelvin
- Jalen Mills
Yep, they probably received some boos from their own fanbase. It happens!
(Never happened for Malcolm, though. Stud from Day 1 through his final game as an Eagle.)
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Hopefully the Eagles won't have to deal with any shenanigans at corner this year. With Darius Slay holding down CB1 and James Bradberry at CB2, the idea is that Howie Roseman has fixed the position - in the short-term, at least, while the Eagles try to get out there and compete for a deep playoff run. We'll see.
Good to see the Piscataway native enjoying retirement.
