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Cincinnati Bengals Film Breakdown: The Good, Bad and Ugly From Kris Jenkins' Rookie Season

The Bengals took Jenkins with the 49th overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft.

Mike Santagata

Oct 27, 2024; Cincinnati, Ohio, USA; Cincinnati Bengals defensive tackle Kris Jenkins Jr. (90) reacts after a play in the first half against the Philadelphia Eagles at Paycor Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Katie Stratman-Imagn Images
Oct 27, 2024; Cincinnati, Ohio, USA; Cincinnati Bengals defensive tackle Kris Jenkins Jr. (90) reacts after a play in the first half against the Philadelphia Eagles at Paycor Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Katie Stratman-Imagn Images / Katie Stratman-Imagn Images
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The Bengals took Kris Jenkins Jr. with their second round pick in the 2024 NFL Draft. Now that he has played 12 games, there’s plenty of snaps to review.

He’s the son of a former all-pro nose tackle in Kris Jenkins Sr. and he plays a bit like it as well. Let’s dig into Jenkins' rookie campaign:

A Statistical Analysis

Jenkins has recorded 26 tackles and one sack in 387 defensive snaps. Seventeen of his 26 tackles are recorded as “stops” by Next Gen Stats. A stop is described as “tackles made by a defender that result in a positive play for the defense, measured by a negative change in expected points (EPA).” and the average stop rate for DL is 5.2% across the NFL. Jenkins is currently at a 4.4% stop rate which is just a tad under the average. Interestingly enough though, BJ Hill is the only Bengals interior defensive lineman to have an above average stop rate (5.88%), so this appears to be an issue that plagues the team.

Making the stop is not always the most important part of playing defensive tackle either though. Protecting the linebackers on double teams, being gap sound, and other facets that are part of being 1 out of 11 members doing their job matters as well even if it leads to someone else making the stop. For example, last season DJ Reader was only at a 4.87% run stop rate and yet he was definitely an above average run defender.

The other part of playing defensive line is rushing the passer. This is an area that is more concerning for Jenkins statistically. Jenkins has one sack this season but only eight pressures. That’s only a 4.1% pressure percentage on the season. The average across the NFL for defensive tackles is 7.5%. Once again, Hill is the only defensive tackle on the Bengals who is currently sporting an above average pressure percentage (9.0%). Jenkins ranks 243rd (4.1%) out of a possible 319 defensive linemen across the entire NFL this season.

His get off has also been measured slightly below average as a pass rusher at 1.14 when the average is 1.04. Certainly not a death sentence for the rookie, but some concerning numbers across the board when it comes to rushing the passer.

Let’s take a look into Jenkins’s film now that the stats have built an understanding of his production so far this season:

Run Game Film Review

Jenkins flashes plenty of promise in the run game. The first thing that stands out with Jenkins is his natural leverage and play strength. He’s below average in terms of height for defensive tackles at 6’2”¾ and he gets down low to the ground to defend the run. Here you can see Jenkins beat the center for the Panthers by getting extremely low and winning leverage. He then uses his strength to bully the center back into the running back on the play:

By getting himself low to the ground, he can effectively use his strength. He drives his feet to work from the ground up to generate force and move the center. His length on this play also shows as he reaches around the center to make the stop as well.

Here is another example of Jenkins playing with fantastic leverage to win against a right guard in this scenario:

While Jenkins doesn’t make the stop, he’s in complete control throughout this play. He wins off the snap by getting lower than his opponent and putting a hand right into his chest. Once the run is bounced outside, he sheds the block and starts to work in that direction. Someone else makes the stop on this play but Jenkins does his job well. It’s also worth pointing out how his base is in both of these clips. He’s keeping a good foundation underneath of him with his feet slightly wider than shoulder width and not crossing his feet over during the play.

While Jenkins get off on pass rushes is below average, he’s still an explosive athlete and that will show up from time to time. He does some of his best work right now when slanting and asked to fire off of the ball. Here he slants inside as part of a run blitz and Rashawn Slater can’t get a grip on him:

He makes the stop on this play but the leverage, get off, and base he plays with on this play is particularly impressive. This play may also give some optimism about his get off with regards to rushing the passer. He tested like an explosive athlete and it shows on the field at times. It may be more of an issue with timing the snap than it is with his movement ability.

Overall, Jenkins does a pretty nice job when he’s tasked with one gap and facing some type of one on one block. The two gap ability and taking on double teams are a different story however.

When it comes to two gapping, Jenkins shows potential but seems inexperienced:

The good part about this play is that Jenkins is in control for the entire rep against a great left tackle. You can see how his strength, base, and leverage all help him on this play. The bad is that he takes too long to shed to the B gap. He’s got eyes in the C gap to watch the running back but once the back declares he needs to shed quicker to make a play. This is one of those examples that shows why his run stop rate might be lower than expected.

His biggest issue right now is taking on double teams.

If Jenkins gets his knee down to the ground he might be able to add in another point of contact and anchor himself better but instead it’s above the ground and it does not help him other than creating leverage. He could read this double quicker which would help him out as well because he had a chance to get his hips into the drive man and just play the post based on his first step as well.

Here’s another example where it seems like he’s late to recognize the double team:

He’s not using any technique to take on the double team; it seems like he’s expecting to play one-on-one with the left guard instead. He gets blasted here by the center and it’s a negative play from him. Again he could shift his hips into the A gap and the drive man on this double. That would allow him to take that contact without getting displaced as much.

While there are more plays like the last two, it’s not as if Jenkins has shown an inability to take on double teams whatsoever. Here is a rep where he gets his hips into the drive man and he can just play the post on this double:

Playing against double teams is essentially survival for as long as that double team occurs. Not too many guys do a great job of just fighting two 300+ pound human beings at the same time. Finding ways to survive that part and then winning when a man climbs is essential. If no one climbs then you take out two of their players for the price of one which is also a win. Just can’t get moved off of your spot.

Here’s an example of Jenkins just taking out both guys on the double team:

There’s not an offense in the NFL that wants to trade two offensive linemen for one defensive lineman if he’s not blown five yards off of the ball. This is a good rep on the goal line to just survive and create traffic. It also allows Wilson to just do whatever he wants as no one climbs up.

One of the reasons that Jenkins’s base has been mentioned so much is that it was something he struggled with during camp and the pre season. While a majority of the plays shown so far have him playing with a good base, he still crosses his feet over and plays with a poor base on occasion.

Look at the difference in Jenkins anchor when this starts versus when he crosses his feet over. He’s taking on this combo pretty well and then instead of keeping a good base, he crosses his right foot over his left foot and gets taken out of the play.

Just something he’s been working on but needs to keep working at perfecting. It’s much better now than it was in the pre season.

Pass Rush Film Review

Jenkins is a work in progress as a pass rusher. He has some issues with firing off of the ball, a moveset that needs refining, and overall technical flaws at the moment. 

Jenkins tested as an explosive athlete and he has shown the ability to fire off of the ball in the run game on stunts. He should be working with a faster get off than the one he has shown on a majority of passing downs. Some of that comes down to timing the snap count but some of it also comes from his stance.

Zach Allen is one of the leaders in get off for DTs and here is his stance on 3rd-and-long: 

Zach Allen Stance
Zach Allen Stance: NFL

You can see Allen’s feet are a full yard or more apart and he’s ready to explode out of that stance like a sprinter. 

This is Jenkins' stance on a lot of his pass rushes:

Kris Jenkins stance
Kris Jenkins stance: NFL

He is in this stance in part because he almost never plays 3rd downs. He has 16 pass rushes that have come on 3rd down in comparison to the 196 pass rushes on other downs. His feet are about even and he’s playing the run first. If you sort by just his 16 3rd down snaps, Jenkins’s get off actually gets to about league average with a 1.05. His stance is also a little more intuitive for pass rushing in those scenarios as well.

Kris Jenkins 3rd down stance
Kris Jenkins 3rd down stance: NFL

He has his inside foot back in this scenario but when you compare how that one looks to how Allen’s looks it’s still quite a bit different. Jenkins feet are closer together and his knees are not nearly as bent as Allen. He can help himself as a pass rusher by getting in a better stance to start when he gets on the field for third and long.

Jenkins technique also needs some refinement though.

Coming from an even foot stance this get off actually works OK and then he tries to use a long arm bull. He’s got good leverage and just misses the hand placement. Instead of landing that long arm into the chest of the guard, he lands it high and outside on the shoulder. It actually just falls off of the guard without much work throughout the play. Has to keep that lower and more inside to have a bigger effect.

Another example here with some worse leverage:

His inside hand ends up on the shoulder pad rather than the chest of the center and his bull rush has no juice because of that.

He gets his hand more inside on this rep against Wyatt Teller:

While he could get that hand just a tad lower, it’s an effective bull rush because he is striking through the guard rather than to their outside on their shoulder.

Jenkins has tried some other moves to varying success. His most successful change up to his bull rush has been his spin move.

You can see how he threatens the guard’s outside first and then spins back inside. He only spins inside at the moment as a counter for when an offensive lineman oversets in their stance. This move would be even more effective if he changed his pass rushing stance and got off of the ball faster because his threat to the outside would be more credible.

He also flashed a swipe rip combination against Joel Bitonio earlier this season that could be used to win inside or outside.

The swipe knocks Bitonio’s hands away and the rip disengages him cleanly so that Bitonio cannot recover. This is one of the only times that he’s shown this move but it’s good to see that he’s working on more moves to rush the passer.

Jenkins came into the league as a very raw pass rusher so some of the technical deficiencies should be expected. It also means that he has room to grow in this area.

Overall, Jenkins has flashed talent as both a run defender and a pass rusher. He seems to be fairly close to being a good run defending defensive tackle if he can read his blocks quicker, continue to play with a consistent base, and work on his techniques for facing double teams.

He’s further off as a pass rusher, but there have been enough flashes that make you believe he can ascend in this area. If he works his stance and refines his moves, then he should become at least an average pass rusher on the interior. He has the strength and movement ability to do so he just needs to become more technically sound.

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Mike Santagata
MIKE SANTAGATA

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