Malcolm Jenkins was everything teams say they want in a player — good at his job, always available, a leader in the locker room and in the community.
At least until he wanted more money and a commitment for the future.
Via Paul Domowitch of the Philadelphia Daily News, Eagles General Manager said the usual thing a team says when they cut a veteran, but noted the time element was the important one.
“The hardest part of this job is that you have to make tough decisions, and you have to figure out where you’re going to do that,” Roseman said. “When you have people and players who have given the team so much and the city so much and me personally so much, these are hard things to do.
“But we’re trying to balance what we can do this year and what we can do going forward.”
The Eagles were apparently willing to work with Jenkins on a raise for 2020, but not add years to a deal for the 32-year-old.
“As much as you want to show gratitude for past performance and loyalty, you also have to have one eye on the future,” Roseman said. “It’s just the nature of where we are right now as a sport. You see it with Hall of Fame players leaving their teams. Quarterbacks. Tight ends. You see it. You can’t sign everyone. For us, we had to make some tough decisions. We had conversations with his representative. We understood what was important to him and what he was looking for. But we also were trying to balance that with what we were trying to do in the offseason.
“We’re in a position now with our team where we’re going to have to lose some guys.”
Having the Carson Wentz contract value rising in the future is going to force them into more difficult decisions, but letting Jenkins go was still a painful move. The veteran safety played in every game during his six years with the Eagles, and every snap the last two years when the Eagles were depleted by injuries throughout the roster.
The Saints were happy to bring him aboard, quickly moving to five him a four-year, $32 million deal, making the commitment the Eagles would not.