Malcolm Jenkins recently appeared on The Rich Eisen Show and shared some interesting thoughts on his previous team and quarterback. Here’s a full transcript of what the former Philadelphia Eagles safety had to say:
EISEN: I know this is not your current team, but I’m wondering what you do think of — if you don’t mind me throwing you in right now as part of the paparazzi — and what you think of what is going on with your former team in Philadelphia? Do you have any thoughts on that subject, Malcolm Jenkins, and, if so, what are they?
JENKINS: Well, I’m going to be honest. I haven’t really paid a ton of attention to it. I was really just looking around the league to look at, with all of the coaching vacancies, how they were going to handle Black coaches, and what opportunities were going to come. But I do know that whoever was going to take over that job in Philly was inheriting … um, some work. I think Jeffrey Lurie made some comments earlier this offseason that hinted, or was really direct about, how they’re going into a rebuilding phase. And players on a team and as a fan base, you never really want to hear that. Because it sometimes kind of muddies up what the priorities are. But, look, they’ve got a situation where obviously all that went down with Carson Wentz this year, a lot of money invested into him, and then you had Jalen Hurts come in and really take command of the offense, ignited a little bit of juice into the team. And that’s not the first time that that’s happened from a backup quarterback, obviously, in Philly. And so it’s one of those things that, like, something has to change. Whether you put that onus on the coaching staff or you put that onus on the players that are there … but there’s obviously a lot of work to be done there. But they’ve got great leadership, they’ve got players in that locker room that are a prideful group. And, what you hope to see, at least from a fan — I even call myself an Eagles fan — you just hope that the competitiveness, that the culture, and kind of the ethos of what that team stands for at least stays in place.
EISEN: So, again, as a fan of the Eagles, you have a unique perspective, and one more follow up on this: is there an issue with Wentz in that locker room? We keep on hearing about it. You were there when there was a magazine article [2019 PhillyVoice story] locally that said there was a big problem with Wentz and players in that locker room. Is there an issue? Is there any there there about Carson Wentz that you can share with us, Malcolm?
JENKINS: Well, I think as a teammate and a friend of Carson’s, I think that it always starts with performance. And he hadn’t performed up to, I think, the expectations that everybody’s had for him. And I don’t think he would say he’s played up to his own expectations. But some of the other issues I felt when I was in the locker room was just that there was too much leeway and it didn’t make him a better player. I don’t think they did any favors by trying to kind of protect his ego or trying to, you know, just really protect him as a player as opposed to keeping it — like every other player — keeping it performance based. And really keeping it real about what he needs to improve on but also adjusting to put him in places that can make him successful. And I think that’s a little bit on the coaching staff and that’s also onus on the player. Like, every player should go into the offseason evaluating what they did well, what they didn’t do well, and you look to see improvement year after year. BUT, if that’s not the case, and you don’t see it, and there are no changes, and it’s not being addressed … then, as a player, I know you almost feel like … ‘What are we doing?’ To do the same thing over and over again expecting different results is insanity. And, unfortunately, I think that a little bit of that has taken place one the last few years. And obviously, this offseason shows that something had to change in a major way. And Carson’s still there so he still — regardless of who they bring in to coach him and get him better — he’s still going to have to improve as a player for that team to have success.
