The real problem with A.J. Jenkins (Draft Relevant)

I know a lot of people attribute his failure as a 49er to either his weak upper body strength leading to an inability to get off of press coverage or John Morton not being capable of coaching our WR's. However, I think there is something else at the root of his short comings. To me the problem was with his desire. Every interview I ever saw with him he seemed very aloof and apathetic. I never saw the fire in him and the drive to be great. We all remember his never following up with JR and running "the Hill" do you think Quinton Patton (who didn't have great numbers on the bench by the way 8 reps) would have turned that offer down? The kid showed drive and dedication by buying his own ticket in order to show up at the facility to work out. That is drive and dedication if I ever saw it. How good he becomes remains to be seen, but he is the type of guy who will constantly strive to get better.

Here is where this argument becomes relevant. I have seen a lot of people question Odell Beckham's viability as a pick due to his low bench reps (7). I have seen this used to compare Odell to A.J. Yes this is something he will have to improve on, but my point is that the mental makeup of the player is far more important. Instead of getting hung up on the bench we should make sure the guy is a competitor. As Trent has said he's looking for a guy with swagger. I have not heard anything saying Odell and I'll throw Brandin Cooks in here as well are anything but competitors. I think we should be fairly optimistic should we draft one of these guys and not necessarily expect history to repeat itself.

Sorry guys, I didn't expect this to get so wordy. I was trying to prove my case. If you took the time to read it thanks I hope you enjoyed.

Hey Mods, if I posted this in the wrong forum please move it, the subject matter seemed to potentially be relevant to both Niner Talk and Draft War Room so I wasn't sure. Thanks

Thought this dude was on a different team....

Why we wasting time talking about him?

Yea please lets keep beating this dead horse

Only relevance with AJ is that the 49ers took a player that no one was touting. This was a guy that was WAY under the radar, and the 49ers got it wrong.

The contrast is that if the 49ers move up in the first round and take a player that generally is regarded as a highly-graded talent, that would be safer and make sense.

That's why these people who want us to sit at #30 or take a receiver in the second round make no sense to me. You want us to look for a franchise receiver in the second round after the more talented players are gone? We have the ammo to move up. Why take chances on players that are generally regarded as worse prospects? Doesn't make sense.

Completely agree. There are players smaller and physically weaker than Jenkins who have established themselves and produced on the field. Jenkins has the skills to be a good NFL player. He lacks confidence, work ethic, and the drive to be great.

I'm disappointed the FO overlooked this when they drafted him, because he exhibited the same behavior at Illinois before breaking out his final year. Kentwan Balmer was the same way. Talented enough to flip the switch in college when their draft stock depended on it, but you can't get away with that in the pros. In the NFL, everyone is highly talented, and most everyone works at his craft like a maniac. If you don't have that dedication you will get left behind very quickly, and most likely never recover.

Turn the page! This situation has nothing to do with what will happen on Thursday. Different type of draft, boatload of prospects, and plenty of ammunition to do it right this time.

Good thread man, the people who are knocking it probably just skimmed it and didn't realize the point you are trying to make.

I wanted Sherman ever since I saw him play back at Stanford, the drive and dedication that guy had was something that couldn't be measured... I knew he was going to turn out to be a good player (didn't think this good but I thought he would end up starting somewhere)
I agree, Jenkins always just seemed bored during his interviews and I didn't see that fire I wanted out of a player like him.
^This is also the reason I don't want KB, he is Jenkins in a Baldwin body

Originally posted by CWin4949:
Thought this dude was on a different team....

Why we wasting time talking about him?

Originally posted by tatdwolf49:
Yea please lets keep beating this dead horse

Originally posted by NickSh49:
Only relevance with AJ is that the 49ers took a player that no one was touting. This was a guy that was WAY under the radar, and the 49ers got it wrong.

The contrast is that if the 49ers move up in the first round and take a player that generally is regarded as a highly-graded talent, that would be safer and make sense.

That's why these people who want us to sit at #30 or take a receiver in the second round make no sense to me. You want us to look for a franchise receiver in the second round after the more talented players are gone? We have the ammo to move up. Why take chances on players that are generally regarded as worse prospects? Doesn't make sense.

I didn't mean to beat a dead horse. I only used him as an example because of his low bench numbers and similar complaints about that I have seen about Odell. I was only trying to illustrate that the results on the bench won't keep Odell from being a good player as long as he has the drive to succeed. Odell is in this draft, so therefore I saw it as relevant.

Originally posted by SofaKing:
Completely agree. There are players smaller and physically weaker than Jenkins who have established themselves and produced on the field. Jenkins has the skills to be a good NFL player. He lacks confidence, work ethic, and the drive to be great.

I'm disappointed the FO overlooked this when they drafted him, because he exhibited the same behavior at Illinois before breaking out his final year. Kentwan Balmer was the same way. Talented enough to flip the switch in college when their draft stock depended on it, but you can't get away with that in the pros. In the NFL, everyone is highly talented, and most everyone works at his craft like a maniac. If you don't have that dedication you will get left behind very quickly, and most likely never recover.

Originally posted by Quest4six:
Good thread man, the people who are knocking it probably just skimmed it and didn't realize the point you are trying to make.

I wanted Sherman ever since I saw him play back at Stanford, the drive and dedication that guy had was something that couldn't be measured... I knew he was going to turn out to be a good player (didn't think this good but I thought he would end up starting somewhere)
I agree, Jenkins always just seemed bored during his interviews and I didn't see that fire I wanted out of a player like him.
^This is also the reason I don't want KB, he is Jenkins in a Baldwin body

Thaks guys, I appreciate it.

Originally posted by m_brockalexander:
Turn the page! This situation has nothing to do with what will happen on Thursday. Different type of draft, boatload of prospects, and plenty of ammunition to do it right this time.

I'm not fixating on A.J. at all, that is done and gone. I was just trying to prove a point.

Originally posted by GorefullBore:

Originally posted by CWin4949:

Thought this dude was on a different team....

Why we wasting time talking about him?

Originally posted by tatdwolf49:

Yea please lets keep beating this dead horse

Originally posted by NickSh49:

Only relevance with AJ is that the 49ers took a player that no one was touting. This was a guy that was WAY under the radar, and the 49ers got it wrong.

The contrast is that if the 49ers move up in the first round and take a player that generally is regarded as a highly-graded talent, that would be safer and make sense.

That's why these people who want us to sit at #30 or take a receiver in the second round make no sense to me. You want us to look for a franchise receiver in the second round after the more talented players are gone? We have the ammo to move up. Why take chances on players that are generally regarded as worse prospects? Doesn't make sense.

I didn't mean to beat a dead horse. I only used him as an example because of his low bench numbers and similar complaints about that I have seen about Odell. I was only trying to illustrate that the results on the bench won't keep Odell from being a good player as long as he has the drive to succeed. Odell is in this draft, so therefore I saw it as relevant.

At the end of the day, the draft is nothing more than an educated guess, you're hoping the players you add reach their potential, wether that's Ryan Leaf, or Peyton Manning.

Team might give up their whole draft for Ricky Williams or take a flyer on Frank Gore in the third.

You can draft a QB in the 6th round and he can turn out to be Tom Brady, or you can draft Giovanni Carmazi in the second....

The key is picking the right guys that are going to compliment your best players, wether that's Beckham, Cooks or Evans, who knows, but one thing for sure, each one will be better than Jenkins, that's all that matters now.

My friend talked with Alex Smith at the US Open right after Jenkins was drafted. Smith told him he didn't like him or his work ethic. So things went wrong pretty early with him.

I see where I errored with this thread. Insead of using Jenkins as the subject title and first paragrap made him seem far more prominent than I intended to. I should have deemphasized him by placeing him later in the post making him more of the supporting point he was meant to be. I'd consider rewriting it, but honestly it was a royal pain to write.

Originally posted by LZRD_WZRD:
My friend talked with Alex Smith at the US Open right after Jenkins was drafted. Smith told him he didn't like him or his work ethic. So things went wrong pretty early with him.

Is this why AJJ ended up in KC with Alex?

Originally posted by GorefullBore:

I see where I errored with this thread. Insead of using Jenkins as the subject title and first paragrap made him seem far more prominent than I intended to. I should have deemphasized him by placeing him later in the post making him more of the supporting point he was meant to be. I'd consider rewriting it, but honestly it was a royal pain to write.

Yeah dude, you lost me (and most others in the Zone) with de emphasized and your educated structuring of your paragraph. Education and knowledge of what you're saying is a sure way to not get your point across here.....

I get what your point is.