For the first time since suffering a stinger in the second week of training camp, cornerback Mike Jenkins participated in team drills on Wednesday--non-contact team drills, but team drills nonetheless. The team was left encouraged by Jenkins’ showing Wednesday, but they don’t expect him to play in Saturday night’s preseason matchup against the Vikings in Minnesota.
"He can’t have full contact, but it’s important to the young man, so he wanted to be out there [Wednesday night], even though he can’t have that contact," defensive coordinator Rob Ryan said, per the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. "It was great to see him flying around and making things happen."
Jenkins is looking to bounce back from an ugly, ugly season in 2010, over which he allowed 54 catches for 935 yards and five touchdowns, and was burned by opposing deep threats with unnerving frequency--this, a year after Jenkins earned a trip to the Pro Bowl. The team is hoping his efforts will be helped by the presence of Ryan.
"He’s working his way back in," secondary coach Dave Campo said. "We don’t have him hitting anything yet. I think he’ll be close to being ready to do that next week. We just wanted him to start hearing the calls and be around. There’s a lot of adjustments and changes in our scheme, and he needed to be out there to get an opportunity to do that, and he did a nice job. He looked like he never left, really."
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