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PHILADELPHIA -- When the Philadelphia Eagles lost to the New Orleans Saints in the 2013 playoffs, Malcolm Jenkins didn’t know he was getting a glimpse of his future. Jenkins played on the winning side in that game. Two months later, he signed a free-agent contract with the Eagles. There was a connection. The Eagles offensive coaches had studied Jenkins to prepare for the game.  “He's a very smart player,” Eagles offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur said. “He was kind of the guy that got their defense going. We did the research on him behind the scenes, he was sort of the captain of that crew, but he's got very good instincts. He's an outstanding tackler, and you could just tell by the way he played, he was the guy that got them organized in the back end. So all the things we're seeing from him now, we saw in that game when they played us.” With that intelligence, the Eagles defensive staff looked at Jenkins as a potential fit in a secondary that badly needed help. “Because we're a two-gap run front, you can go get those safeties that were corners,” defensive coordinator Bill Davis said. “You can get the guys that fly around like Walter (Thurmond) does. You're not asking him to play that big boy, inside gap. That's part of the structure of who we became with our D line and the two-gap world, and doing that well allows you to go get a different kind of safety. You don't have to have the linebacker-ish safety like I had in Adrian Wilson back in Arizona. You can play with the cover guys and that helps.” Jenkins was drafted by the Saints as a cornerback. He played that position in 2009, the year the Saints won the Super Bowl. The next year, Jenkins moved to safety. He started at safety in 57 games over the next four seasons. After beating the Eagles in the 2013 playoffs, the Saints lost to Seattle in the next round. A couple months later, the Saints threw a six-year, $56-million contract at free agent safety Jairus Byrd. Jenkins had become a free agent himself that offseason. The team decided to move on. On Sunday, for the first time, Jenkins will get a chance to play his former team on the same field the two teams met the last time. “I’m not the first person to ever get let go by a team,” Jenkins said. “I won’t be the last. I don’t need extra motivation to get ready for this game. I know a lot of their coaching staff. I know a lot of the players there. I want to compete against them. I look forward to this opportunity. At the end of the day, we play the Saints on Sunday. We’re in desperate need of a win.” Both teams are 1-3 and looking to turn their season around. For the Eagles, it will help that Jenkins is so familiar with Drew Brees and the Saints’ offense. “Being there for five years and seeing the offense every day, there’s a lot of things that I have (seen),” Jenkins said. “You can call out a play, but you’ve still got to stop it. There’s obviously some things that I’ll recognize. I’m sure there’s some things they’ll have on me as well.” According to Brees, there’s certainly respect. “Unfortunately, [the Eagles] got Malcolm Jenkins,” Brees said. “Malcolm is a great football player and a great leader. His presence makes a difference out there.”
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