A day after the Eagles parted ways with veteran safety Malcolm Jenkins, Jenkins is heading back to his first NFL home.
The Saints are reportedly closing in on a deal with the 32-year-old.
Before his six years with the Eagles, who acquired him in free agency in 2014, Jenkins spent five years with the Saints. New Orleans drafted Jenkins with the No. 14 overall pick out of Ohio State back in 2009.
The Saints are scheduled to play in Philadelphia during the 2020 season.
In January of 2019, Saints longtime head coach Sean Payton admitted to Philadelphia reporters on a conference call that he regretted letting Jenkins leave in 2014.
I said this and I just said it recently, probably one of the bigger mistakes we’ve made. You gotta be able to look at them and say, ‘how did that happen?’ But letting him out of the building certainly wasn’t a smart decision.
NFL
This is a chance for Payton to rectify that mistake.
But you might remember back to the Eagles-Saints regular season game in 2018, when Jenkins flipped Payton the middle finger during the Eagles’ 48-7 beatdown in New Orleans.
After the game, Jenkins explained why he flipped the bird and said he had a lot of respect for Payton. The two talked after the game.
In Jenkins’ first year in New Orleans, the Saints won Super Bowl XLIV and Payton last January — before the Eagles-Saints playoff game — gave Jenkins a ton of that credit for that team’s success.
“He was probably one of the most important parts to our Super Bowl run and it was his rookie season,” Payton said in January. “I told him after the game (in November of 2018) I love him and I know that the feeling’s mutual. I just have a ton of respect for him as a player and also as a person. He’s a fantastic player and just as good of a person.”
While Jenkins had five productive years in New Orleans, he didn’t make a Pro Bowl until he came to Philadelphia. He ended up making three in six years.
While Jenkins expanded The Malcolm Jenkins Foundation to Philadelphia, he began it while in New Orleans the first time. Jenkins is a player who gets invested in his communities, so there is probably an appeal to going back to a city with which he’s familiar.
On Tuesday, after the Eagles announced they were parting ways with Jenkins, they re-signed safety Rodney McLeod and re-signed Jalen Mills, who is expected to possibly play corner and safety.
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