Kris Jenkins Jr. following father’s footsteps

INDIANAPOLIS— Kris Jenkins Jr. said the right things as an NFL draft project. He pledged his future allegiance to whichever of the 32 possible teams might draft him in April. He promised that he would immediately become a “bandwagon fan” to the club that would take a chance on him. But there is one team that first captured his heart.

“So, I will say growing up though, I was a Panthers fan,” the Michigan defensive lineman shared Wednesday at the NFL Combine.

It makes sense. Jenkins, if the name didn’t give him away, is the son of Kris Jenkins Sr., former defensive tackle and second-round pick of the Carolina Panthers, and an integral part to the club’s Super Bowl XXXVIII run. Jenkins Sr. joined the Panthers in 2001. In his second season, he became a full-time starter, and finished with 44 total tackles, a career high seven sacks, and three passes defended. His 39 solo tackles the following year was a career high (46 total), and four passes defended, with a forced fumble and recovery, plus two blocked kicks, helped spearhead a defense the Panthers rode to the Super Bowl.

Jenkins Jr. is now a defensive tackle like his dad, and uncle (Cullen Jenkins, who also played in the NFL), a Michigan Wolverine National Champion, ready to take on the NFL. And although he was only 2 years old when the Super Bowl was played, it’s one of his favorite games to watch of his dad’s.

“When they played the Patriots, and he won’t agree because unfortunately they lost the game, but we was watching that film…you just see on the film, he’s in the backfield every single time;” the son said. “He’s going through double teams, he’s flying. I think they had him drop back into coverage. He was a freak athlete.”

The Super Bowl may be the game Jenkins Jr. watches the most, but it’s not the one he relives most commonly. That would be a 2005 matchup between his dad’s Panthers, and his uncle’s Green Bay Packers. The game, played in Charlotte, was a Monday Night Football showdown that saw the Panthers win in a close 32-29 matchup.

It’s not the first game Kris Jenkins Jr. attended, but it’s the first he actively remembers.

“I just remember that my dad and my uncle were playing against each other, so they were both on the field,” he said. “It was just so cool being on the field, stepping out on the field, seeing these giants, because I was so little at the time. Seeing the crowd, the stadium, it was just such a surreal moment for me.”