The Philadelphia Eagles continue to lock up their core players with long-term contract extensions.
The Eagles signed safety Malcolm Jenkins to a new five-year deal that includes a four-year extension.
NFL Media Insider Ian Rapoport reported the four-year extension is worth $35 million with $21 million in guarantees, per a source informed of the contract. In total, the new deal is worth $40.5 million and it will keep him under contract through the 2020 season.
"I expressed to (my agent) I want to be here for a long time," said Jenkins, during a news conference Monday. "They took it from there. I think the Eagles did a good job of obviously expressing that I definitely in the plans."
Jenkins was poised to enter the final season of a three-year, $15.5 million contract he had outplayed the last two years in Philadelphia after beginning his career in New Orleans.
A first-time Pro Bowl selection in 2015, Jenkins suggested during Super Bowl week that he was due for a lucrative new deal.
"Believe me, I'm waiting. I'm trying to get in line just like everybody else," Jenkins said, via the Philadelphia Inquirer. "That's something I can't control. But I'm definitely interested in staying. I want to be in Philly long term."
Jenkins is the fourth nucleus player to land a new contract since Howie Roseman, Eagles executive vice president of football operations, resumed de facto general manager duties in January. Tight end Zach Ertz, right tackle Lane Johnson and defensive end Vinny Curry have also been awarded new deals in the past month. Star defensive lineman Fletcher Cox is next on the docket.
As the Inquirer's Jeff McLane outlined in a prescient column, Roseman has long been an adherent of former Eagles president Joe Banner's practice of locking up young players before they reach their peaks.
After upgrading the secondary in his first season with the Eagles, Jenkins graduated to the ranks of the NFL's best safeties in his second season. In fact, it can be argued that he and impending free agent Walter Thurmond were the league's premier safety tandem last season.
Jenkins, 28, led the team in tackles each of the past two years and forced more turnovers than any Eagles defender in 2015.
Provided he stays healthy and productive, he will spend the next half-decade quarterbacking new coordinator Jim Schwartz's secondary. For his part, Jenkins seems upbeat about the direction of the team's defense.
"I think we have the players in the building already to really be a dominant defense," Jenkins said. "For the most part, I think we have what we need and I think when you add a coach like Jim Schwartz and his defense ... I think that will take us to the next level."
