AJ Jenkins WR Illinois

Originally posted by niners4lyfe:
who is this MD?

Mad Dog....resident draft guru along with OTC.

Originally posted by SunDevilNiner79:
Mad Dog....resident draft guru along with OTC.

I thought he was banned.

Originally posted by niners4lyfe:

Originally posted by SunDevilNiner79:
Mad Dog....resident draft guru along with OTC.

I thought he was banned.

Nah, we revived him.

Originally posted by SunDevilNiner79:
Yep, I know what gold helmet means. AJ Jenkins is a high character guy.

For any haters out there for this pick, you are going to eat a s**t load of crow.

This dude has more explosiveness and quick twitch athleticism out of any WR in this class. Just pull up a YouTube clip and watch how fast he breaks out of cuts, its crazy.

And no thats not how I base my opinion of him. I'm an ASU fan (hence screen name), we played Illinois this year and I was amazed by him (and Mercilus) and followed Illinois through out the year. I'm more surprised that Baalke had a similar assessment then anything because so many draft sites had him low.

Early on, draft sites had this guy as a SIXTH round prospect. At the time, I had him as a 3rd rounder, and I believe MD one-upped me with having him as a 2nd rounder (MD deserves credit, he was big on Jenkins very early on). I thought Chris Givens from Wake Forest looked slightly better in college but Givens carried character issues whereas I think Jenkins would get a gold helmet from the staff.

Edit: I hope someone makes a list of the haters, I can't wait to see them all eat crow.

I wasn't being sarcastic... was really wondering what it meant and thought you would be able to tell me. So my guesses I put behind the question were correct? Just never heard of that term before.

Originally posted by RonMexico:

Originally posted by escobar49:
People keep saying bye bye Kyle Willams but they need to realize that hes not going anywhere. Moss will be gone after this season, Ginn is mainly a punt returner who also is a free agent after this season. So that leaves us with Crabtree, Manningham, Jenkins, and Kyle. I'm not expecting anything from Moss this year and positive that those 4 wideouts will get most of the playing time this year. People need to cut Kyle a break. The kid screwed us over but he's YOUNG and has lot of potential.

well we also have another draft next year, so kyle may very well be gone, not like he is an irreplaceable talent

Very true but to go ahead and get rid of the guy after what was his rookie season (because of his first year injury) is ridiculous to me.

Originally posted by Gore_21:
I wasn't being sarcastic... was really wondering what it meant and thought you would be able to tell me. So my guesses I put behind the question were correct? Just never heard of that term before.

My bad, thought you were being saracastic.

Yeah, Baalke puts a "gold helmet" (maybe its a sticker?) by guys he judges to have high character

Transcript:
"-Q: Last year you talked about the gold stars, or helmets…

-BAALKE: Gold helmet, gold stars.

-Q: That's for high-character guys. Has that process been completed for this draft? Do you have the helmets up on the board?

-BAALKE: That's one of the final things we do, once we get the board, the guys on the board… We're always talking about them in that way. But I think it'll be Sunday when we sit down–I sit down with the personnel staff and we go through each guy that's on our board.

Really determine, do they deserve one or not.

-Q: How many of the guys you drafted last year had the gold helmet?

-BAALKE: Trying to think… I think there might've been one that didn't. But the majority did. I'd have to go back and take a look at it.

-Q: What does a gold helmet signify?

-BAALKE: It doesn't look at a player from a physical aspect. It looks at him from an intangible aspect.

So, do they have the off-the-field character we're looking for, do they have the work ethic we're looking for, do they have the acumen for the game, the football IQ and instincts that we're looking for in a player?

If they have all of those things, they're a gold helmet. Has nothing to do really with the physical ability of the player."

Edit: In another article, Jenkins and Julio Jones tied for the highest score in Harbaugh's football IQ quiz.

OK, OK.....I get that many of you are disappointed with this pick. Let us look a bit deeper at the reasons behind it, shall we?

A.J. Jenkins...

physical attributes...
-great hands
-runs great routes
-is both quick and fast
-can stretch the field
-was extremely productive even though he was playing with a below average QB
-for those of you who like numbers...
....4.37 40 yd. dash at the Combine
...one of the fastest times of any player invited
....38.5" vertical leap (better than Blackmon, Floyd, Randle, Jeffery, Givens, Sanu, Quick, and M. Jones)
....4.12 20 yd. shuttle (better than Blackmon, Floyd, K Wright, S Hill, Randle, Jeffery, Givens, Sanu, and Quick)
....6.73 3-cone drill (better than Blackmon, Floyd, K Wright, S Hill, Randle, Jeffery, Givens, Sanu, Quick, M. Jones, and Childs)
....10'4" broad jump (better than Blackmon, Floyd, K Wright, Randle, Jeffery, Givens, Sanu, Quick, and M. Jones)

intangibles
-humble
-hard working
-very intelligent
-has great character
-loves the game of football
-improved every year in college and by all accounts, has not reached his ceiling
-wants to get better

I'd say he qualifies as a top prospect...

Cheers!

Originally posted by SunDevilNiner79:
Nah, we revived him.

lulz, u saved that n***a.

Originally posted by RonMexico:
would you have liked a slow wr?

I prefer a WR who can get open, run good routes and catch the ball, I don't care how big/fast he is as long as he is effective

Wow! You completely missed my point. I think we should have drafted for one of our biggest needs: Ceneter or Guard. Someone like Silatolu or Glenn. We already have Davis, Walker, Crabtree, Manningham, Ginn, and possibly Moss (rumor has it he's still super fast). I know, it's not the greatest group. But I think it's enough for Alex.

Wow! You also like WRs that can get open and catch balls! What a coincidence!

Obviously, you missed one of the main reasons we drafted Jenkins: to stretch the field w/his speed. So, yes, his speed is one of his greatest assets. So, you should care that he is that fast; otherwise, we probably wouldn't have drafted him.

Originally posted by GorefullBore:

Originally posted by 49erFaithful6:
A playmaker with some swagger coming out of Illinois... reminds me a bit of Brandon Lloyd.

Originally posted by DENden223:
Possibly can transform into our version of Roddy White? There's potential, every scout says he's fluid with his routes and creates good seperation. Isn't that crucial for a west coast offense?

Here are some other guys in his hight and weight range.

Reggie Wayne 6-0 198 - Reggie is a great player. This could fit if A.J. hit the weight room a little.

Greg Jennings 5-11 198 - Everyone knows how good he is, and how much he means to Aaron Rodgers.

Mike Wallace. 6-0 190 - Maybe A.J. is the reason we didn't persue Wallace, that and the obsurd contract and draft pick compensation it would have taken.

I think regardless he can stand to hit the weight room, especially if he gets a year to adjust and develop. If he becomes anything close to any one of the guys listed above this pick will be more than worth it. I have to admit the pick shocked me. I don't hate the pick, I just wasn't ready for it. I honestly don't yet know much about him. I am going to be hitting youtube over the next couple of days lol. I think that with the way we drafted last year this staff has earned at least a little trust with this pick. As always, I am going to reserver judgement until I learn more about him, and see him on the field.

Oh, and do you know with what pick the Colts took Wayne in 01? Why pick 30 of course, that's kind of interesting IMO.

For those wondering J.R. was 6-2 200 not exactly the same dimensions. Here is two more names to add to the list of guys of the same hight weight ratio:

Marvin Harrison 6-0 185 - I know Harrison is retired but if you really look at it he seems to have the most similar skill set. Both are amost exactly the same hight and weight, and like Jenkins, Harrison was fast as hell.

Kind of interesting but Mario Manningham 6-0 185 is the same size as well.

Like I said in the previous post, if Jenkins comes anywhere close to any of the guys listed, he will be a steal.

http://www.stltoday.com/sports/football/professional/rams-miss-out-on-jenkins/article_02ddc12d-b649-5ef0-84f4-02f6487fb11d.html

There you go guys... why he didn't take the 4th round pick to move down to 35...would rather he be playing for us than against us.

Oh and thanks SunDevil... great info you've been providing. P.S. I like that they give them an IQ test... one thing Harbaugh mentioned is if they are a fan of the game and follow it. Call me crazy but how can some of these guys not know major NFL players or follow the NFL or be a fan of it when you are going to play in it. I guess it's not as important as if you love to play the game itself but it's kind of a sidebar...

For the record, I like Jenkins. I was just surprised we didn't feel other needs with this pick. So, to all the "defenders of the great one", there's no need to get crazy.

Originally posted by 8to80:
For the record, I like Jenkins. I was just surprised we didn't feel other needs with this pick. So, to all the "defenders of the great one", there's no need to get crazy.

I think thats where the knee jerk reactions alot of had came from. Fleener was on the Board, a guard, and also alot of people on these boards really liked hill.

When fans are looking their draft darling in the face and he isaint picked its hard to look beyond that.

Also the fact that its been awhile since we picked this late.

Originally posted by Gore_21:
http://www.stltoday.com/sports/football/professional/rams-miss-out-on-jenkins/article_02ddc12d-b649-5ef0-84f4-02f6487fb11d.html

GREAT LINK. LOFTY LINK.

Originally posted by 8to80:
Meh. He looks like he'll be a contributer. Not sure why we drafted a speed WR here when we already have Manningham, Ginn, and maybe Moss. I could understand if we were running a spread offense with a gunslinger QB, but we aren't. The draft is far from over, so I still have great faith. I'm sure there's gonna be some great maneuvering by Harbaalke.

I don't think Baalke thinks of him as a "speed" receiver, but rather a good receiver.

I know it gets a little lost in the glim and glamour of the draft, but there is more to playing receiver than being tall and running fast in a straight line in your underwear.
Body control, feigning the DB, quickness, separation, hands, intelligence, and last but not least, just good ole fashioned football sense.

Oh yeah, he also runs fast in a straight line in his underwear.