Dallas Cowboys looking to trade cornerback Mike Jenkins

Having made a blockbuster trade in the first round of the NFL Draft to move up and grab LSU cornerback Morris Claiborne, the Dallas Cowboys are now shopping Mike Jenkins, according to a Pro Football Talk report.

Jenkins was a first round pick by the Cowboys in 2008 (25th overall) and had a quiet rookie season, where he was stuck behind the depth chart of cornerback Orlando Scandrick.

In 2008, Dallas moved Jenkins up above Scandrick and the South Florida product broke out in a big way.

He recorded five interceptions, 19 passes defended, as well as 49 tackles, and was regarded throughout the league as an emerging shutdown corner.

Despite having a lock on the starting job, Jenkins struggled in 2010, and while being a decent contributor, never really showed the lockdown ability when matched up against big-time receivers and was constantly being called for penalties.

In the 2011 season, Jenkins was injured in training camp and missed the preseason, and separated his shoulder joint several times throughout the year, causing him to miss time. He had shoulder surgery in January of this year.

With the addition of Claiborne in the draft, and free agent cornerback Brandon Carr joining the team from the Chiefs, Jenkins has become expendable. He is owed $1 million in base salary this year, but more importantly is entering the final year of his rookie deal, so he will likely be released at the end of the season, so Dallas wants to trade him now before they are forced to cut him in 2013 (otherwise they would have to franchise-tag him or offer him a lucrative contract).

So far there has been little interest in Jenkins, according to ESPN, and he has been rehabbing on his own rather than at the Cowboys’ facility. Due to the evolution of the NFL as a ‘pass-happy’ league now, it’s likely that Jenkins will be traded if a team loses a starting cornerback to injury during training camp or the preseason.