Memory Banked

Jordan Mailata unknowingly provided E.J. Jenkins with what the Eagles tight end now refers to as a “core memory.”

Nearly a month ago, Jenkins, along with 36 other roster hopefuls, anxiously awaited their respective fates on cutdown day.

Thirty minutes prior to the 6 p.m. deadline, Jenkins hadn’t received word one way or another. It was a unique position for Jenkins, who for the two previous summers had already learned of his release by that stage of the process.

Jenkins, who admits he’s “not a big social media guy,” was left in the dark. It wasn’t until roughly 20 minutes after the Eagles’ initial 53-man roster had been established that he received confirmation — via phone call from a team captain.

“I feel like I had a really good camp going in,” Jenkins recalled when revisiting cutdown day. “Put good stuff on tape of displaying physicality and showing some receiving ability and things like that. And just trying to contribute to the team as many ways that I possibly can.

“And so, like, during that time, when it came down to cut day, a lot of anxiety during that time because I feel like I put my best foot forward. And of course, it’s my first time actually making the initial 53-man roster of being an undrafted guy. So, I didn’t know how it worked. So, when the time came, it was actually funny. Jordan Mailata called me. He called me, and I’m just like –  I don’t know – my heart’s racing out of my chest the last 30 minutes. Like, it’s getting down to crunch time. And he called me and he’s like, ‘Let’s go! Let’s go!’

“I’m like, ‘What are you talking about?’ He was like, ‘I seen you made the team.’ He was like, ‘Oh, did I ruin it?’ I said, ‘No, you didn’t ruin it.’ I was like, ‘Actually, you gave me a core memory.’ So now, forever I’m gonna remember that Jordan Mailata was the first person to call me when he seen that I made the team. So, that’s where I was. It was an amazing feeling, for sure.”

GETTY IMAGES/ICON SPORTSWIRE: E.J. Jenkins didn’t know if he’d make the 53. Now, he’s poised for more snaps in Week 3 with the Eagles thin at tight end.

Jenkins was one of four tight ends rostered on the initial 53, joining Dallas Goedert, Eli Stowers and Johnny Mundt.

“E.J. is a great story,” said Howie Roseman, Eagles executive vice president/general manager. “When you talk about a receiver at Georgia Tech who transformed his body, he’s 260 pounds, he’s 6-6, he’s got 34-inch arms. You see in this league where the position is going, where it’s trending. A lot of similar offensive systems to some of the things that we’re running where these wide tight ends, they’re highly valued in free agency, they’re highly valued in the draft.

“For us to be able to develop E.J. and his skillset, which as a former receiver has really not only turned to, obviously he’s a big target in the passing game, but a point of attack player. His pass protection –  when we went over his pass protection, it is really, really good to have a tight end who’s able to pass protect like he is – and then in the run game be able to help.”

Jenkins, who played collegiately at Saint Francis (PA), South Carolina and Georgia Tech as a wide receiver, as Roseman said, is a great story.

He entered the NFL as a raw, albeit tantalizing undrafted free agent with the New York Jets, where he converted to tight end. He bounced around as a rookie, including stops in Philadelphia and Las Vegas.

Since, he’s toggled between the Eagles’ 53-man roster and practice squad, never making the team outright until just recently.

Along the way, Jenkins, 27, played for the Eagles on football’s biggest stage. In Super Bowl LIX, Jenkins totaled 25 snaps, six on offense and another 19 on special teams.

The blocking aspect, now a strength, wasn’t a seamless transition for Jenkins. It required the benefit of time, along with a steadfast commitment, which Jenkins over the years expressed making a point of emphasis and pride.

While listed at 245 pounds, Jenkins, who stands at 6-foot-6, actually hovers around the 255-260 range, sporting a build similar to that of an edge rusher. He says his body fat percentage is lower, too, holding around the 10 percent range.

The added mass has aided Jenkins in the blocking department, where this summer he not only moved defenders in the run game but also demonstrated his chops in pass protection.

The best example of the latter, perhaps, came on a splash play during joint practices in Foxborough. Patriots nickel Marcus Jones stormed around the edge as Jalen Hurts scanned the field. A pressure might’ve resulted in a throwaway or scramble to buy time, but Jenkins picked up the defensive back and sealed the corner, affording Hurts enough time to find a wide-open Elijah Moore downfield for a touchdown.

The connection was arguably the Eagles’ most memorable offensive play from the two-day set of practices.

“I think it’s a mindset,” Jenkins said. It’s a mindset to do the things that doesn’t really show up on the stat sheet. Like, even though, say somebody doesn’t have [any] targets or something like that, you’re doing your one percent to help the team. And everybody has their role, and they excel in their role.

“So, my role is to get down and dirty and do things and also contribute on special teams, too. May not show up on the stat sheet, but it shows up in the wins. So, I think everybody has, like I said, their role and they excel in it, and we’re doing pretty good for the team.”

Through two games, Jenkins has logged 26 offensive snaps and another 42 on special teams, though a larger role could potentially be in store for Jenkins in the short-term, in the wake of losing starter Dallas Goedert for “a few weeks” due to an MCL sprain.

Jenkins could factor in more prominently Monday night against the Bears at Soldier Field.

“We’ll see,” he said. “As the opportunity comes, of course you gotta show up. You practice like you’re starting every, single week. And so, when those opportunities do show up in the game, it’s not a surprise. It’s something that you’ve been practicing, on the back end and not necessarily in the scene of everybody, where everybody’s watching. So, continuing to work your receiving skills, continue to work the blocking and pass setting and things like that, too.

“So, of course we miss Dallas. Team’s not the same without him out there. But we trust the guys in our room to step up and fulfill that role. Everybody in the room is pretty versatile and everybody has those skill sets to feed off each other.”

— Andrew DiCecco (@AndrewDiCecco) is the Eagles beat reporter for InsideTheBirds.com.