Teven Jenkins NFL Draft Profile

Teven Jenkins NFL Draft Profile

When it comes to sorting this offensive tackle class, there is one player who should be mentioned more frequently in the conversation for that second spot behind Penei Sewell. That player is Oklahoma State’s Teven Jenkins. There is this perception on social media that Rashawn Slater has the second spot locked up, and I don’t think that should be the case.

Jenkins primarily played right tackle during his time in Stillwater, but he did start six games at left tackle over the last two seasons and started a handful of games at guard early on in his college career. At 6’5 and 317 pounds, he possesses the ideal build to play either tackle position in the NFL and checked off any doubts about his length at his pro day when he measured in with 33.5-inch arms. 

Teven Jenkins NFL Draft Profile

Top Three Player Traits

Finish Blocks

People often confuse this trait with someone getting a pancake block where they use a violent punch to knock another player on the ground. That’s only a small portion of this attribute for offensive linemen. The other parts are leg drive, and duration of the block – are you blocking someone from the snap of the ball until the last whistle blows. Some linemen will give you one of these, others will give you two of the three, and then there’s the rare group who will bring all three to the table. That’s where Jenkins, and Sewell, reside. 

If you only watch one game of Jenkins’ college career, it needs to be the 2020 game against Texas. He was dominant from start to finish in that game, and a large portion of it happened while matched up with Texas edge rusher Joseph Ossai, who is no scrub himself. There is this play – I’m sure you’ve seen it by now – where Jenkins drives Ossai off the ball and to the sideline. I’m not exaggerating when I say it’s the most impressive latch and run block I’ve ever seen in my life. Jenkins brings that mentality and the ability to finish on every single snap of every single game. Put simply, he is a brawler.

Explosiveness And Athleticism

It’s not very often that people look at an individual who weighs over 300 pounds and place the adjective explosive in his profile. What I mean by explosiveness is his ability out of his stance. Another term for this could be urgency, which I used to describe my concerns with Christian Darrisaw. 

Jenkins does not share those same concerns for me because he launches out of his stance. Be it in pass blocking scenarios, or run blocking scenarios, he has incredible get-off. Chargers fans have seen how effective Joey Bosa has been in his career because of how fast he launches off the ball, and the same principle applies with offensive linemen: the quicker you get off the ball the faster you are ready to attack your opponent. Jenkins is a diverse pass blocker, but he loves to quick-set so he can get his hands on rushers even sooner. 

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Reach/Lateral Mobility

This attribute points to him being an above-average athlete and possessing the requisite length to succeed in the NFL as a tackle. Jenkins’ pro day performance earned him a Relative Athletic Score of 9.73, which is good enough for fourth in the class – only behind Northern Iowa’s Spencer Brown, Texas’ Samuel Cosmi, and BYU’s Brady Christensen, and one spot ahead of Slater. 

The physical athleticism helps him execute routine, but difficult blocks as a run blocker. He is the best in the class at reaching the inside shoulder of defensive tackles on inside reach blocks, and the outside shoulder of defensive ends/outside linebackers on outside reach blocks. Those kinds of blocks are crucial to building an effective rushing attack. 

Oklahoma State didn’t ask him to work up to the second level of the defenses very often, but they did use him as a puller quite often and he was very comfortable in those situations as well. I have no doubt that he would be able to execute scoop blocks to the second level if he were asked to do so more frequently. 

Top Three Player Traits To Improve Upon

Bend/Flexibility

The biggest concern I have with Jenkins is his lack of flexibility. This tends to show up most against more fluid pass rushers in the instances when Jenkins can’t get his hands on them. In particular, Ronnie Perkins from Oklahoma this past season. There were instances in which Perkins could get under him and win in the leverage department due to his short-area explosiveness. Because Jenkins can play a little high at times, this caused some losses against Perkins. He was physically dominant for 60 minutes against Ossai and Texas, but Ossai was able to seal a Texas victory by turning a corner on Jenkins with a speed rush in overtime.

This isn’t something that is a huge red flag or anything, but it does pop up from time to time. Every college player has things they’ll need to improve upon, which is why we have these profiles formatted this way, it just so happens that the biggest thing Jenkins needs to improve is his natural bend and pad level. 

Second Level Efficiency

I mentioned this earlier, but Oklahoma State didn’t ask him to climb to the second level of defenses very often. Because of this, there’s some level of discomfort with this aspect of run blocking. When asked to get out in space, he will fall victim to taking poor angles or being a little overzealous. If he gets drafted by a zone blocking team, such as the Chargers, he will have hit the film room hard and figure out how to take better angles in the NFL.

This is doable, it’s not for a lack of effort or athleticism. I mentioned in my Alijah Vera-Tucker profile that he’s the best at and that’s because he has great timing and understanding of where defenders will be. It’s similar to a quarterback learning how to go through his progressions more efficiently, they just need more reps to become more comfortable. 

Diversity As A Pass Blocker

If you’ve been reading these profiles, you’ve likely noticed that this has been a bit of a common thread for the offensive linemen that I have written about. What’s important to point out here is the same thing from the above trait, this is something that these players can improve. Jenkins is the most powerful blocker in this class, and he has taken that train all the way to being a first-round pick. However, as I said with the other players before him, NFL edge rushers are a different beast. Blocking Von Miller the same way two times a year isn’t going to work, just like blocking Bosa the same way every day in practice (hypothetically) won’t work. 

I have no doubt that Jenkins will be able to develop into a high caliber starting tackle, but just like every other college tackle, he will have to add more to his arsenal in order to keep up with the various types of edge rushers he will be facing on a weekly basis in the NFL.

Ultimately I have a mid-first round grade on Jenkins and am a huge fan of his potential. I do believe he will be able to play either tackle spot, and frankly, if Sam Tevi can make the switch from right to left, so can Jenkins. I have him as my fourth-ranked offensive tackle, although I am one of the few that has maintained my stance of Vera-Tucker being a tackle. If I switched him over to guard like everyone else seems to be doing, then Jenkins would be my third-highest graded tackle. Whoever drafts Jenkins is going to get a fantastic offensive tackle, and I will be praying every day for the next three weeks for it not to be the Raiders.

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