Teven Jenkins to have Back Surgery (Relevant to Bengals draft strategy)

[BengalChris]

(08-18-2021, 11:34 AM)Crazyjdawg Wrote: The Chicago Bears just announced that Teven Jenkins is getting back surgery.

I remember on draft night, when he didn't go in the first round, I was surprised but really excited by the idea of us getting him in the 2nd round.

As each pick came and went and our 2nd round pick was approaching, I got really excited about the idea of getting him.

And then we traded down with him on the board, only for Chicago to take him the very next pick.

There were rumblings that the reason the Bengals passed on him was for medical reasons, but it was never really substantiated. I remember checking Chicago's forums the night they drafted him and they were insistent that he had a clean bill of health.

And then training camp began. They never put Jenkins on the PUP, but he was held out of TC from the very first day with "back tightness." I'm pretty sure he didn't take a single training camp snap outside of the rehab field before this announcement, which was kind of pre-empted by their signing of 39 year old Jason Peters.

Maybe he'll be back for 2021, maybe not. We'll have to see.

This may seem relatively unrelated to the Bengals, but I think it matters because it shows that the Bengals were not willing to risk that "injury concern" point when it came to protecting Joe Burrow. It's true that Jenkins may recover and in 2022 could be a high quality OT, but it seems the Bengals were not willing to risk that because they needed help right now.

Granted, the choice we ultimately made in the 2nd round likely won't be providing that immediate help either for completely different reasons, but one of the picks we got in the trade down, which we used to select D'Ante Smith, may actually end up being our starter at RG come week 1.

I know a lot of people, myself included, were annoyed/angry/concerned when we passed on Jenkins to trade down. I think this news at least gives validation to the Bengals who obviously were skeptical of his ability to contribute immediately, which ended up being the right call, at least in the context of fixing the Oline in real time for Joe coming back from an injury.

I was like you. I see Jenkins as a 10 year starter on at RT.

We have no idea if the Bengals saw any injury concerns with Jenkins and they may just have been bought by the two 4th round picks.

(08-18-2021, 11:55 AM)BritishBengal Wrote: It's huge and a real vindication of the Bengals draft strategy. We traded down and picked up Carmen who, sure, looks raw, but I was very impressed with some of his snaps against the Buccs.

The real kicker here is that those acquired 4ths became Smith and Shelvin and I don't think I really need to aay more. When value and volume presents itself, more often than not it's worth it.

I wouldn't say that. Carmen hasn't done anything yet and we don't know when he will.

Those 4th round picks may end up being better than Carmen. None of this trading on draft day has Taylor written on it. This is Tobin's doing.

We'll have to see how things turn out in a couple of years.