Cincinnati Bengals Film Breakdown: What Kris Jenkins Jr. Adds to Defensive Line

With the 49th pick in the 2024 NFL Draft the Cincinnati Bengals selected Kris Jenkins Jr. from the University of Michigan. Jenkins is the son of former All-Pro nose tackle Kris Jenkins Sr., who was the 44th overall pick in the 2001 draft.

Jenkins was sixth on Bruce Feldman’s freaks list because of his strength and athleticism. This freakish ability also earned him the nickname “The Mutant.”

How did this strength and athleticism translate to the field? Let's take a look at the film:

What He Does Well

Areas of Concern

Overall Thoughts

Jenkins should have a solid floor as a defensive tackle in the NFL because of his ability to defend the run. There’s potential for him to develop as a pass rusher as well, but it needs improvement.

All of Jenkins' positive traits show up when he's defending the run. His quick processing allows him to diagnose what run block he is getting on the play. He does a great job of defeating these blocks by getting himself in position to win instantly. His upper body strength is paramount to his success as he will ragdoll offensive linemen who are trying to block him. He generally plays with good hand placement. His length works to keep the offensive linemen off of him. He can lock them out while he reads the ball carrier’s intentions and then effortlessly shed the block to make an attempt on the ball carrier.

His athleticism gives him the ability to backdoor offensive linemen for splash plays and some ability to slant and stunt in the run game as well. He has very good range to be able to make plays at or outside of the numbers as a defensive tackle. Despite being undersized, he is a high-end run defender when singled up against offensive linemen.

His main issues in the run game are that he doesn't take on double teams well and he misses too many tackles. He could play with better leverage against double teams and learn to anchor in by corkscrewing down to a knee. He can also use his length to disrupt the timing of the double team by locking out the post man and trying to get his hips into the drive man so they aren't working together. Right now he seems to just trust that he has the strength to win. He may never be a dominant force against double teams because of his size, but he should improve in that area.

Even though he has great range, good length, and good athleticism, he still misses tackles. Not just tackles where he’s engaged with a blocker but tackle opportunities where he is in the open field alone with the ball carrier. These areas both need to improve if he is going to move from a good run defender to a great run defender.

As a pass rusher, he’s raw. Michigan mainly asked him to defend the run and it seems as if most of his training in college was learning how to defend the run. He typically plays from an even foot stance which is used to read blocks and defeat them. He wasn't asked to pin his ears back and fire up the field very often. Even on passing downs, he would be asked to contain, spy, or stunt at times rather than get up the field. You can see the ability to punish over sets by crossing their face or using a spin move back inside and if he can continue to work that he should be able to beat some offensive linemen. The main issue for him at the moment is that his bull rush is ineffective. This should be his bread and butter with his length, athleticism, and strength. He’s playing too upright on his bull rush.

He’s not in a position of power on contact as he will be standing straight up rather than at an angle to drive through the offensive lineman. If he can get to the position of having his hands above his eyes in the chest of the lineman with his spine angle intersecting his opponent, then he can become a much better pass rusher. It doesn't look like he has any physical limitations that would stop him from becoming a pass rusher, other than possibly his bend which was not often on display. It’s a matter of working at his craft and becoming better at the NFL level.

Scheme Fit

Jenkins should be trusted right away to play 3-technique on the outside shoulder of the guard, 4i on the inside shoulder of the tackle, or 5-technique on the outside shoulder of the tackle. He should fit the Bengals defensive line on early downs because of their propensity to play things slow. That’s how he was taught to play at Michigan. There’s development needed to become a high end pass rusher, but there’s no athletic or size limitation that is stopping him. I would expect him to essentially take Zach Carter’s role as a rookie, which should result in 500+ snaps this season.