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Another cornerback is coming to St. Louis for a visit with the Rams. On Sunday, according to Aaron Wilson, the Rams will host North Alabama cornerback Janoris Jenkins. Jenkins joins LSU corner Morris Claiborne as the other corner to visit the Rams ahead of the 2012 NFL draft.
Jenkins has first-round talent. And until his revelation at the Combine that he has four children with three separate ladies, has been arrested in a bar fight and twice for pot possession. His troubles got him exiled from Florida. Most experts feel that Jenkins' extended family brood may be the biggest concern, distracting him from the game itself, a la Antonio Cromartie.
Whispers have it that teams have a wide array of grades on him, some even with a "do not draft" tag. Jenkins is a real possibility at the top of the second round for the Rams. As we've noted before, head coach Jeff Fisher has shown a willingness to take a chance on players with off-field issues, Pacman Jones for example.
Jenkins was pretty forthcoming about his personal life at the Combine, refreshingly so. Was it enough to change any minds? We'll know April 26.
He also changed agents this week. There is some talk that Jenkins' former agent, super agent Ben Dogra, dropped him, not vice versa. That could be a big red flag.
The bottom line is that Jenkins is a very good cornerback, probably capable of starting across the field from Cortland Finnegan right away. A little undersized on the eyeball test, a la Finnegan, Jenkins is a beastly man-cover corner. He also has plus ball skils, and some compare him to Asante Samuel. If a team can keep him on the straight and narrow, he could have an outstanding NFL future.
I remember the groans from so many Rams fans when Devaney and Spagnuolo proved to be so risk averse on players. This administration does not take the same approach to "pillars," weighing talent versus risk. Those kind of moves sometimes pay big dividends.