FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — During the offseason, E.J. Jenkins would be watching TV and decide to take a break.
There was never a gad time to sharpen his footwork.
“Right in the living room,” Jenkins said. “Move the coffee table to the side and just work on those steps. Anything I can do to improve my game from the blocking aspect, I’m willing to do.”
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All that work is paying off. A few weeks into Eagles’ training camp, the 25-year-old is making a strong push to make the 53-man roster as their third-string tight end behind Dallas Goedert and Grant Calcaterra. Based on merit, he should probably be the leader for that position.
But it hasn’t come easy.
As a college wide receiver, Jenkins clearly has some natural pass catching ability. He’s shown that all summer and showed it again in Thursday night’s 14-13 win over the Patriots. He finished the game with 5 catches on 5 targets for 47 yards and pulled in a highlight reel grab. And Jenkins also said he was fine after suffering an injury in the second half.
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Sure, Jenkins works on his hands too. But that wasn’t the focus entering this training camp. The 6-foot-6, 245-pound Jenkins wanted to work on becoming a well-rounded tight end.
“Coming into this training camp the things I wanted to improve the most were my blocking and my footwork,” he said. “Just because I was a receiver in college so I knew that, that was going to be a hard transition for me. I just embrace it. I’m embracing the whole role of being a tight end.”
That led to a lot of offseason time spent on his footwork and hitting the bag — Big Bertha — over and over. Jenkins would even put his hands on a wall to make sure his elbows stayed inside and square. Blocking matters, especially for a guy trying to make the team as a third tight end.
There are others competing for the job. C.J. Uzomah, Albert Okwuegbunam, Kevin Foelsch and Armani Rogers are also vying for the spot. But it’s Jenkins who has stood out most.
Does Jenkins feel like he’s making a strong roster push?
“I hope so. I hope so,” Jenkins said. “I can just control what I control. The one thing I can do is just come in the building and give everything I have on a daily basis. Day in and day out just give 110%. I’m going to do what I have to do, control what I can, which is show up every day and give everything I have and hopefully it works out at the end.”
Jenkins went undrafted out of Georgia Tech back in 2023 after previously playing for South Carolina and FCS Saint Francis. After the draft, he signed with the Jets but was released at final cuts. Jenkins then signed to the Eagles’ practice squad for a couple weeks that November before spending some time with the Raiders’ practice squad in January. He signed a futures deal with the Eagles on Jan. 22.
At the time, he was just a somewhat familiar name — one of 19 players to sign a futures deal with the Eagles after the season. But he’s made the most of his latest opportunity so far.
Jenkins certainly made the most of his 38 offensive snaps on Thursday night in New England.
“It feels great to get back in the groove of things,” Jenkins said. “Once you start making those first couple catches, you feel unstoppable and you just want to keep the dice rolling and just keep making plays.”
If things keep rolling, he might just stick around.
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