The New Orleans Saints made waves this week when they claimed former New York Giants cornerback Janoris Jenkins on waivers, adding an experienced option to their cornerbacks depth chart. Jenkins was a starter for Big Blue, having played 875 defensive snaps during New York’s first 13 games. He’s already tied his career-best interceptions tally (4), and has bagged 14 total passes defensed. That’s more interceptions than all other Saints cornerbacks have combined for this season (2). He’s also drawn half a dozen penalties.
Saints coach Sean Payton addressed the addition on Wednesday during his weekly conference call, noting that Jenkins is a versatile cover corner who can line up outside as well as in the slot, and emphasizing that experienced players with that versatility are important late in the season as injuries take their toll.
Payton also said that in-house evaluations of Jenkins were helped by the Saints’ past homework on him — both when he was a top free agent option before the 2016 season, and in scouting for each of the games they have played against Jenkins since he signed with New York (doing so in 2016 and 2018). He’s a player they knew well, and who they felt could easily project into their defense.
However, Payton stopped short of guaranteeing Jenkins a starting job. When asked whether he would compete for a spot in the starting rotation, likely with embattled number-two cornerback Eli Apple, Payton replied with a terse, “Listen, we’ll see. We’ll see how it goes.”
