Over the first year and a half of his career, Chicago Bears offensive lineman Teven Jenkins has endured a tough beginning.
After being drafted high in the second round, Jenkins found out he was going to miss most of his rookie season due to a nagging back injury. Appearing in just six games as a rookie, Jenkins flashed some of the great things we saw from him at Oklahoma State.
This offseason, under a new regime, the Bears seemed to shift on Jenkins a bit — or at least, according to some rumors. Ryan Poles, being a former offensive lineman and not having invested in Jenkins as his draft pick, had to decide which way he was going to go with the young lineman.
With a plethora of unproven, young options on this line, the Bears coaching staff have tried many guys at different positions throughout camp. But, when camp kicked off, one of them was missing: Jenkins. Then, the trade rumors began surfacing. Would the Bears try and trade Jenkins because of the thought that he wasn’t fitting in with the new regime?
Jenkins finally returned to practice on August 6, after a mysterious injury kept him out the beginning of training camp, and just a week later, played in the preseason opener. Fast forward just a week after his preseason debut, and Jenkins has taken on the role of starting right guard.
Teven Jenkins put himself on a fast track to earn the starting right guard position for the Chicago Bears.
After all of the drama and rumors, Jenkins is now starting for the Bears. Whether or not it’s in order to draw interest of other teams in a potential trade doesn’t necessarily matter at the moment.
What matters is that Jenkins has played and practiced well, and his teammates and coaches have taken notice.
Running back David Montgomery has nothing but positive to say about Jenkins:
“He doesn’t complain. He comes to work every day. I never heard him say anything negative in any way necessary. Every time I talk to Tev, it’s always, ‘I’m trying to get better, trying to improve myself so I can be the best version of myself.’ That’s super refreshing to see from somebody who kinda handled the level of adversity that he did handle his first year.”
It’s not just Montgomery, but head coach Matt Eberflus who is noticing Jenkins’ success and giving him proper credit. When speaking with reporters Saturday afternoon, Eberflus was asked if he could take pride in what he and the staff have been able to do with Jenkins and the success the young player has had.
Eberflus immediately reverted the credit back to Jenkins saying that first and foremost, the credit goes to “the player” and not the coaches. Eberflus talked about Jenkins’ play, practice and how he’s handled himself throughout the past few weeks and gave him all of the credit for where he’s currently at.
If he continues to play well and earns that starting right guard spot, then much of the offseason narratives can be put to bed. The fact is, Jenkins was a highly-touted prospect last year and comes with a whole lot of talent and potential.
Getting the most out of a guy who has that type of ceiling is a win. If the Bears hang onto him, Jenkins could prove he was well-worth keeping.
