Patriots WR Darnell Jenkins plays waiting game

FOXBORO — He described the route as routine.

"It was a simple screen," Patriots practice-squad receiver Darnell Jenkins reflected a couple months ago following his team's 27-24 preseason victory over New Orleans. "The guy (Saints cornerback Patrick Robinson) blitzed and it just opened the play up."

Simple.

In other words, that route was far different than the one Jenkins took to get here.

"It gets frustrating," the well-traveled Jenkins said of his NFL career, "but the guys in the locker room - I talk to (Matt) Slater a lot, Brandon (Tate) - the guys that are around me do a great job of keeping me motivated and keeping me going to continue day in and day out to give an effort and the 100 percent that I do give."

As you may have heard, the number of wide receivers on the Patriots' 53-man active roster was trimmed by one this week.

With Randy Moss' sudden trade to Minnesota on Wednesday, the wideouts on the Patriots' active roster now number five: Wes Welker, Tate, Julian Edelman, Slater, and Taylor Price.

Amidst the rumors, from Deion Branch returning to New England from Seattle (plausible) to Vincent Jackson arriving from San Diego (unlikely), one can almost picture Jenkins, sitting in front of his locker stall at Gillette, waving his arms as if to say: "Over here. I'm open."

Story of his NFL life: It appears the 5-foot-10, 191-pound Jenkins is being overlooked once again.

For the time being, at least, the Patriots have filled Moss' vacated roster spot by re-signing Quinn Ojinnaka, the offensive lineman they obtained in an Aug. 23 trade with Atlanta and subsequently released on Sept. 30.

As for Jenkins?

"I'm just going to stay ready and continue to work hard," he said. "Stay in this playbook and continue to give 100 percent effort on the practice field.

"Everyone gets certain opportunities and not everyone takes advantage of the opportunities that they get. I'm just that guy waiting on an opportunity to take advantage of."

The 27-year-old Jenkins' first opportunity in the NFL occurred in 2008 when the Houston Texans signed him as a rookie free agent out of the University of Miami where his success was modest (31 receptions for 619 yards and two touchdowns his senior year; 90 catches for 1,274 yards and five TDs during his career).

With that, Jenkins' long and winding road had begun.

Exactly four months to the day he was initially signed by the Texans, Jenkins was waived.

What then ensued over the next couple of years was a maze of moves that saw him repeatedly waived by three different teams while spending time on the practice squads of each before the Patriots signed him to their practice squad last Dec. 9.

Oh, yes, Jenkins finished that 2009 season on the Patriots' practice squad/injured list with an ankle injury.

In less than two years, Jenkins was waived five times by Houston, Cleveland and Tampa Bay, while suiting up for just one regular-season game. That once-in-a-lifetime (to this point, anyway) experience occurred on Dec. 21, 2008, when Jenkins took the field on special teams for the Texans in their 27-16 loss at Oakland.

On Aug. 12 of this year, though, there was Jenkins, taking "a simple screen" that Zac Robinson dumped to him in the left flat, turning up field and bursting 52 yards. The catch set up Stephen Gostkowski's 28-yard, game-winning field goal in the Patriots' preseason-opening win over the Saints.

On Sept. 2, there was Jenkins catching a team-high five passes for 93 yards, one a 66-yard touchdown, in the Patriots' 20-17 preseason-ending loss to the Giants.

Remove their pasts from the equation - Price was a third-round pick in this year's draft; Jenkins is a well-traveled journeyman - and the latter would have made the 53-man roster heading into the season while the former would have been released during final cuts.

But whereas Jenkins, who outperformed Price in the preseason, could slip through waivers, the chances of a 22-year-old (at the time) rookie doing so would have been slim.

And so, on Sept. 4, Jenkins was cast in a familiar role, waived for the sixth time in his career by the fourth different team.

Two days later, Jenkins' name was on the league's transactions list once more, signed to his second stint on the Patriots' practice squad.

Through it all, Jenkins has maintained a selective memory, all the while hoping he will not become a forgotten man.

"Even the preseason that I did have, I've forgotten about it and I'm just playing my role," he said. "I can only control what goes on with me while I'm here. I'm going to continue to work hard and give all I can until my number's called."



(metrowestdailynews.com)