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Examining the Pros and Cons of a Potential FA Target

Guard Teven Jenkins is a former second-round pick of the Chicago Bears

Dante Collinelli

Chicago Bears guard Teven Jenkins (76) against the Arizona Cardinals at State Farm Stadium in 2024.
Chicago Bears guard Teven Jenkins (76) against the Arizona Cardinals at State Farm Stadium in 2024. / Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images
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Everyone knows the Miami Dolphins need to add multiple offensive guards this offseason, and one outlet is predicting the Dolphins will sign one of the more interesting free agent options.

Aaron Schatz of ESPN predicted the Dolphins will sign former Chicago Bears guard Teven Jenkins in free agency. Jenkins, a former second-round pick in the 2021 NFL Draft, is coming off a season where he played in 14 games on a struggling Bears line.

However, Jenkins was far from the biggest problem on Chicago’s line and could provide the Dolphins with quality play at a key position of need. With that in mind, we’ve evaluated both sides of this free agency prediction.

The Argument for Signing Jenkins

Besides the obvious fact that the Dolphins need help at guard, Jenkins provides a few other skills that would help Miami. For starters, Jenkins is a physical run blocker who can move defenders off the ball and create holes for running backs with ease.

Miami's running game lacked physicality when right tackle Austin Jackson suffered his season-ending injury in November. Adding Jenkins to the line would give the Dolphins another physical presence up front.

Jenkins is known as more of a run blocker, but he’s held his own in pass protection throughout his career. Schatz mentioned that Jenkins had a 92 percent pass block win rate last season, which he noted as “average” for the position.

That metric is particularly important because the Bears gave up so many sacks last season (68, the most in the NFL). Pass block win rate measures Jenkins’ performance independently of the play around him, so his netting out that high is a good sign.

Jenkins’ other appealing quality is his age. He’s just 27 years old and has improved each season since entering the league. The Dolphins could give him a multi-year deal, getting solid play out of him before he turns 30.

Much of Jenkins’ improvement comes from his move from tackle to guard. The Bears tried to play him at left tackle during his rookie season, but he mostly struggled with speed rushers attacking his outside shoulder.

In the last three seasons, he’s played all his snaps at guard and gotten consistently better. Additionally, he’s played left and right guard, which could give the Dolphins a small boost in versatility.

The Argument Against Signing Jenkins

Jenkins would offer the Dolphins plenty of things they’ll need this season, but he does have one major flaw — durability.

In all four of his NFL seasons, Jenkins has missed time with an injury. He didn’t start as a rookie because of an injury, leaving him to play in just six of the team’s games. Since then, he’s played in 13, 12 and 14 games across the last three seasons, respectively.

Jenkins’ injury history includes calf, hip, neck, and ankle ailments. He also suffered a concussion in 2023. At this point in his career, Jenkins has suffered pretty much every type of injury you can imagine.

His injury history is likely why the Bears are expected to let him walk in free agency. Finding injury-prone players in free agency isn’t uncommon, but for the Dolphins specifically, it’s more of an issue.

One reason the team’s offensive line has struggled, especially last season, is injuries. Terron Armstead is widely known as injury-prone, and Jackson has suffered two season-ending injuries in his career, including last season.

The Dolphins have been burned on injury-prone free agency guards recently, too. The team signed Isaiah Wynn ahead of the 2023 season, and he performed fairly well until suffering a season-ending injury in October of that year.

The same injury kept him out of the lineup for all but six games of the 2024 season. Wynn had an injury history before the Dolphins signed him. They saw him go down in 2023 and then bet on him returning earlier in 2024, only to be wrong about his recovery time.

It could be argued that — above anything else — durability should be the top trait the Dolphins are looking for with a potential starting guard. That just happens to be Jenkins’ biggest weakness.

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Dante Collinelli
DANTE COLLINELLI

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