Letting three-time Pro Bowl safety Malcolm Jenkins walk during free agency was a hard decision for the Philadelphia Eagles. Jenkins was their team leader and the heart of their defense.
In a recent interview with Paul Domowitch of the Philadelphia Daily News, Eagles general manager Howie Roseman explained why the Eagles let Jenkins walk:
“The hardest part of this job is that you have to make tough decisions, and you have to figure out where you’re going to do that … When you have people and players who have given the team so much and the city so much and me personally so much, these are hard things to do. … But we’re trying to balance what we can do this year and what we can do going forward.”
Roseman had negotiations with Jenkins on his contract, but in the end, the Eagles decided not to bring him back on a new deal. In the same interview, Roseman expressed it was a hard decision to let Jenkins walk.
“For us, we had to make some tough decisions. We had conversations with his representative. We understood what was important to him and what he was looking for. But we also were trying to balance that with what we were trying to do in the offseason … We’re in a position now with our team where we’re going to have to lose some guys.”
Jenkins will be turning 33 years old this upcoming season. However, despite his age, he has proven to be one of the most consistent defensive backs in the game.