Philadelphia Eagles sign Pro Bowl safety Malcolm Jenkins to five-year deal
Tuesday 23 February 2016 11:17, UK
Philadelphia Eagles have signed Pro Bowl safety Malcolm Jenkins to a five-year contract extension.
Jenkins was about to enter the final season of a three-year, $15m (£10.6m) deal he signed as a free agent in 2014 but is now signed with the Eagles through 2020.
According to ESPN, Jenkins' new deal includes $35m (£24.8) in new money and he will get $21m (£14.9) guaranteed. His salary cap hit for 2016, which would have been $7.1m (£5m) under his old contract, will drop to $5.6m (£4m).
Jenkins' new contract is the fifth multi-year deal signed by Eagles in recent weeks, as Jenkins joins tight ends Zach Ertz and Brent Celek, tackle Lane Johnson and defensive end Vinny Curry.
"I reached out to my agent at the end of the season, a few weeks back, and just really expressed to him that Philly is a team that I really want to be on for the long run," Jenkins said during a press conference on Monday.
"Obviously, I had one more year left before facing free agency and a lot of unknown. I told him that if the feeling was mutual, that I'd love to do something long term. It went from there, and obviously Mr (Jeffrey) Lurie, Howie (Roseman) and Doug (Pederson) really felt like they started to build around players that they had already in the building.
"You saw some of the other guys already got extended, so it felt good to me to know that I was on that list of players that they felt they could start to build around to win a championship, and like I said that feeling was mutual and I'm really looking forward to the opportunity."
The 28-year-old has been one of the more consistent performers on a defence that often struggled under former coach Chip Kelly. Over the past two seasons, Jenkins led the Eagles in tackles (233), passes defended (29) and interceptions (five).
Jenkins made the Pro Bowl in 2015 even though the other three starters in Philadelphia's defensive backfield were new. He had 120 tackles last season.
"Malcolm has proven himself as a leader on and off the field," said Executive Vice President of Football Operations Howie Roseman. "We are excited to have him on the team moving forward."
