Dolphins 2015 grades: Jelani Jenkins

The Miami Dolphins linebackers did not have a good 2015 season and Jelani Jenkins was one of the better players on the unit. Jenkins eventually was injured and missed a lot of the 4th quarter of the season but how did he perform when he was healthy?

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Jelani Jenkins – linebacker

2016 salary – $793,000

The Miami Dolphins expected Jenkins to be a huge part of their defense in 2015. Coming off a very good 2014 season, Jenkins was the one player on the linebacker unit that was penciled in from day one of the off-season as a starter. Jenkins has some problems with his game, specifically against the run but in 2015 he was lining up behind Ndamukong Suh and many believed that Jenkins would improve in that area of his game.

Jenkins finished the season as the 38th best linebacker in the league according to ProFootballFocus.com but he carried and overall grade of just 65.2 most likely due to his 57.9 rating against the run. In pass coverage, Jenkins was much better holding just over 10 points higher than his run grade. He jumped to 74.7 in pass rushing.

On the season Jenkins started all 13 games he appeared in but he missed the final three weeks due to injury. He recorded one forced fumble and recovery on the year and three passes defended to go along with 71 tackles, 50 of them solo. Jenkins wasn’t able to use Suh’s double and triple teams to break out of his rut in run defense and that was a big reason for his sub par year.

Despite the lack of consistency against the run, Jenkins had to deal with poor play inside from Kelvin Sheppard and after Cam Wake was injured, the outside edge rush took a dip as well and that too hurt Jenkins play throughout the 2nd half of the season. At times, it appeared that Jenkins was trying to do too much and make up for the play around him.

2015 grade: B

Why a B?

Despite his inconsistency Jenkins was still a player that the Dolphins could rely on and his pass coverage skills kept the Dolphins close in many games.