WR Michael Jenkins, New England Patriots

HT: 6-4, WT: 217, Born: 6-18-1982, College: Ohio State, Drafted: Round 1, Pick 29

2013 Projections

Outlook

What are the chances Michael Jenkins' tenure in New England will be any less underwhelming than his stints at Atlanta and Minnesota? While he may be high on the depth chart to start, it won't be a shock when a rookie like Aaron Dobson overtakes him this summer, or even former Buffalo receiver Donald Jones. Add to that the presence of long-time Pats Julian Edelman and the terror twins of Rob Gronkowski and Aaron Hernandez and the outlook for Jenkins is a bit grim.

2013 Schedule

2012 Game Summaries

Week 1 - Jenkins continues to be inconsistent. Two of his receptions were short passes he took for long gains after the catch, but all too often he was overmatched and couldn’t come down with the ball.

Week 2 - Jenkins saw a lot more action on Sunday and did a great job of holding onto the ball, dropping only one pass—the only one he missed. His targets were mostly short passes, but Jenkins served as a good outlet when Percy Harvin was too covered.

Week 3 - Even though Jenkins was targeted 5 times, he was only able to catch 1 ball for 8 yards. The lone catch was a short route at the end of the first half, and was unspectacular given the space the defense allowed him. He wasn’t able to create any separation between himself and the defenders. A number of the targets appeared to be Ponder throwing it away as Jenkins was caught in double coverage.

Week 4 - With the emergence of tight end Kyle Rudolph, the return of Jerome Simpson and the usual strong play of Percy Harvin, Jenkins was relegated to a distant third wide receiver. It didn’t help that Jenkins briefly left with a rib injury and seemed to be hampered by it the rest of the game. Unfortunately, most of the rest of his targets were uncatchable. He was well covered though, so it is unlikely to have mattered. Jenkins has a chance to feed off looser coverage with the attention going elsewhere but he didn’t get separation against the Lions and it’s hard to imagine him getting separation against the much better secondaries on the schedule.

Week 5 - Jenkins did a nice job against the Titans as the Vikings right-side receiver in three wide sets. His best catch came on a 15 yard gain in the Titans redzone that resulted in a first down. On the play, the Titans were playing well off Jenkins and he quickly adjusted his route to a hitch approximately 8 yards downfield. He received the Christian Ponder pass and turned upfield for the first down before being tackled. Johnson primarily ran go routes and out patterns during the contest.

Week 6 - Jenkins gets a lot of grief for the fact that he cannot stay healthy and tends to come up short in big situations. When the Vikings needed an extra effort though, he stepped up for a big touchdown. On the play, in the middle of the fourth quarter, the Vikings were driving and had a second and five at the Washington nine yard line. Jenkins lined up on the right side, just off the tackle and ran a short route towards the sideline. Ponder threw a pass to him which he caught at about the seven yard line. Jenkins turned upfield and ran for the end zone, but the coverage had a great angle on him and Jenkins looked like he would be limited to just a first down. Instead, Jenkins made a tremendous dive for the end zone and caught the cone for a touchdown. Furthermore, during the final drive of the night for the Vikings, Jenkins made numerous catches to move the chains. Unfortunately, on that same drive, Jenkins dropped a pass on the one yard line when he was hit as he caught the ball. Still, Ponder looked for him almost as much as Percy Harvin and Kyle Rudolph on that final drive and Jenkins has started to produce.

Week 7 - Jenkins caught an underneath route while the defense was playing soft, to defend against a third down conversion. Jenkins was not able to convert, and disappeared in the passing game soon after.

Week 8 - Jenkins was minimally involved in the offense until the game was out of reach for Minnesota. Both of his early targets resulted in third down receptions well-short of the first down line. In the fourth quarter, Jenkins picked up huge chunks of yardage when Tampa Bay was clearly playing back and preventing the long pass. Jenkins had a rare chance for yards after the catch on those two occasions. With Simpson being incorporated as the deep target, Jenkins’ role is now limited to a low-ceiling possession option that has little use in fantasy circles.

Week 9 - Jenkins made a good play early in the game, catching a short throw and eluding his corner, then diving for a first down. His second catch was on a short throw in the flat, but he was tackled for little gain and the first half ended. The rest of the game, Jenkins was unable to beat the coverage and wasn’t targeted.

Week 10 - Jenkins' first reception was a quick out on second and 10 when he was tackled immediately by a defender. Jenkins caught a curl over the middle short of a first down against tight coverage. It went for eight yards and was his only other catch of the day.

Week 12 - Jenkins was the starting WR for this game, opposite Jerome Simpson, but Jenkins wasn’t even targeted until late in the third quarter. He ran a short curl late in the third quarter and a quick slant on the next play for 13 yards. He was targeted twice more in the 4th quarter but couldn’t’ come up with either of them. The second pass popped up off his shoulder pads and was nearly intercepted.

Week 13 - Jenkins wasn’t targeted at all in the first half, and the first pass thrown his way was an ill-advised effort which resulted in an interception in the end zone. There was absolutely nothing Jenkins could have done differently. He ran towards the corner of the end zone and when he saw Ponder breaking towards the line of scrimmage but still looking downfield, he started to drag along the back of the end zone. Unfortunately, safety Morgan Burnett followed. Ponder threw the pass anyway, which Burnett easily picked off. His next pass was almost picked off as well, as cornerback Tramon Williams ran stride for stride down the sideline with Jenkins and Ponder’s throw was a little underthrown and almost fell into Williams’ hands. The third reception was the exact same play, this time to the left side and broken up by Davon House. As with Simpson, Jenkins was unable to gain any separation on his deeper routes and Ponder was not able to get the ball to him over the defender.

Week 14 - 
Jenkins opened the game with a quick curl for 11 yards on 3rd and 11 to give the Vikings the first down and get them in range for Adrian Peterson to score the opening TD. Jenkins continued to be the short-yardage receiver, running curls and slants for minimum gains. His best catch came in the 4th quarter though – a quick slant where he used his size and physical skill to reach up over the defenders to make a nice catch. He was tackled immediately but it was a 10 yard gain and a 1st down.

Week 15 - Jenkins' first reception came in the third quarter on third down when he caught a deep out for a first down.

Week 17 - Jenkins caught a nine yard slant route against single coverage on third and 10. Jenkins had to adjust to a poorly thrown pass from Ponder which prevented him from making the first down. After dropping a touchdown opportunity in the fourth quarter, Jenkins made an excellent reception two plays later for the go ahead touchdown. Jenkins found the soft spot against cover 2 coverage down the left sideline for a big reception on the Vikings' final drive in regulation.

Week 18 - Jenkins' first reception came in the dying minutes of the fourth quarter when he caught a slant pass against single coverage. On the very next play, a blown coverage allowed Jenkins to catch a deep ball with nobody around him. He walked into the endzone after a 50 yard gain. Jenkins caught another 30+ yard pass over the middle in the dying seconds against prevent coverage.