N.Y.Times: Jenkins Vows to Play On

Jets’ Jenkins May Be Hobbled, but Vows to Play On

By
GREG BISHOP
Published: October 26, 2010

Days after knee surgery, Kris Jenkins stopped three times because of a rapidly deflating tire on the drive from New Jersey to Washington to see his agent. Imagine a 6-foot-4-inch, 360-ish-pound nose tackle on crutches, fiddling with an air hose next to his BMW.

Onlookers stared, or laughed, and on some level even Jenkins recognized the scene’s hilarity. It symbolized the crossroads at which he found himself, attempting another comeback, with one foot in the future (broadcasting) and another in the present (with the Jets), the timeline tied to a bum tire.

“Go ahead and laugh,” Jenkins said as he recalled the incident.

Over the past month, Jenkins offered a window into his thoughts leading to his decision to return to football after sustaining another serious injury. In the moments before his fourth major operation, he spoke candidly about the anxiety he felt, and he promised to end his career on a typically dramatic note.

At the hospital, the Jets’ headquarters in Florham Park, N.J., and a Manhattan hotel suite, Jenkins, 31, exhibited a range of emotions: nervous, excited, bored, energized, certain, reflective, stubborn.

“However you look at it, my career is winding down,” he said. “I’m not the young man anymore. And I’m fine with that. I want to see what I can do as an old man out there.”

Shortly before dawn on Sept. 29, Jenkins underwent his third operation to repair an anterior cruciate ligament, the second on his left leg in 11 months.

Wherever Jenkins went at the Morristown Surgical Center in New Jersey, doctors and nurses reminded him of his frequent visits, sometimes inadvertently. They repeatedly recalled the previous year’s experience — same knee, same surgery, same staff.

One nurse turned to his wife, Tashia. “You poor thing,” she said. “You’re here again.”

As Tashia recorded video of the scene before surgery, Jenkins appeared nervous on the bed. He wore a hospital-issued gown and slippers, and a shower cap that drew laughter from Tashia. A nurse shaved his left leg. At one point, Jenkins told Tashia, “For five seconds now, I just thought in my head, why do I play football in the first place?”

But he never lost his sense of humor. When the anesthesiologist asked Jenkins if he had any questions, he did not hesitate: “Where’s the nearest Popeyes?”

Nearly five hours later, doctors found Tashia in the waiting room, where she was doing online research about Halloween costumes for their two children. The doctors said that the torn meniscus in the left knee had started healing and that the operation had gone perfectly.

If Jenkins wanted to try a football comeback, nothing from that morning would discourage it.

While he spent the next week resting, Jenkins felt like LeBron James because the decision consumed his life. He considered his family, and how Tashia had delayed her dream of attending cosmetology school. He noted how Coach Rex Ryan had restored his childlike joy for playing football. He thought about all the decisions he had made for others, and he chose to make this one for himself.

“I’m coming back,” Jenkins said a week after surgery, announcing his intention in a conference room at Jets headquarters before telling Tashia or the team. “I have to. Because it’s my choice. I’m coming back to play. No other reason.”

From that moment, Jenkins insisted he never doubted himself. He repeatedly said he cared little what others thought. He acknowledged his salary for next season — a shade under $5 million — could be prohibitive, but said he would consider restructuring his contract, or playing elsewhere.

For Jenkins, this comeback was not about money or accolades. It was about defining his legacy, leaving on his terms.

“I don’t think he’s through playing,” Ryan said. “I really don’t. If he says it, and he believes it, he’ll go out and do it. I’m not betting against him.”

Jenkins was injured six defensive plays into this season, allowing more time for recovery. Most weekdays, he works on range of motion, strengthening muscles and maintaining his upper body at the Jets’ facility.

In the basement of his home in West Orange, N.J., the Jets set up rehabilitation equipment. Jenkins added a PlayStation and transformed that space into a man cave. He decided his leg felt stronger than it did after surgery last year, a result of using a patella tendon, instead of part of a hamstring, to repair the knee .

While reflecting, Jenkins decided to wear a knee brace when he next steps onto the field. He did not last season, Jenkins said, because he was stubborn, because he did not want to use the brace as a crutch. He said that he entered training camp with his left knee only 70 percent healthy, and that not wearing the brace could have contributed to the injury.

“I misfired some with last year’s rehab process,” Jenkins said. “I’m not 24 anymore, and I just assumed that I could do things the way I did when I was in Carolina. That wasn’t the case.”

Soon after September’s operation, Jenkins spent most days bored, resting. Tashia had to adjust to his constant presence around the house. They fought more than usual until Jenkins filled his schedule.

He went to ESPN and conducted a series of interviews the network calls a car wash. He solicited broadcasting advice from producers in preparation for his next career. (They told him to read more and to work on his camera presence.)

Jenkins also spent more time in the locker room around his teammates. He resumed working with his favorite charity in Washington and started searching for a charity in New Jersey. He took Tashia into Manhattan for two getaway weekends.

The Jets, meanwhile, embarked on a 5-1 start, good for a share of the N.F.L.’s best record. Jenkins said that watching them had been “a little traumatic,” but that the solid play of his replacements (Mike DeVito and Sione Pouha) raised his spirits.

“I’m a 31-year-old man,” Jenkins said. “Am I supposed to sit in the house and pout? No. If I have some animosity in my heart, I need to go the gym, work on my marriage, hang with my kids. I need to get it out through motivation.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/27/sports/football/27jenkins.html?ref=sports