St. Louis Rams add CB Jenkins with NFL draft's 39th pick - NFL News

ST. LOUIS -- Getting bounced out of Florida was not the end of the world for Janoris Jenkins. The St. Louis Rams are willing to give a cornerback they rated a first-round talent a shot in the NFL.

Jenkins finished his college career at North Alabama after getting dismissed by the Gators following his third marijuana-related arrest in less than two years. He was taken with the third of the Rams' second-round picks -- a pick acquired from the Redskins in the deal for the second overall pick -- on Day 2 of the NFL draft on Friday night.

"I'm pretty sure it hurt, but that's my past," said Jenkins, who waited until the 39th pick to be called. "I've got a new chapter and I'm happy to be a Ram now."

Coach Jeff Fisher felt comfortable taking Jenkins after the franchise did extensive homework including scouting reports, combine interviews, a player visit to St. Louis and staff trips to Florida and Alabama to check on him.

"We talked to many, many, many people that had crossed paths with him since he was a young boy growing up in Pahokee, Fla.," Fisher said. “Every person we talked to said, ‘Take him.’”

The low point for the 5-9, 190-pound Jenkins may have been in May 2009, when police used a stun gun while arresting him, and he was charged with arrest without violence. Florida coach Will Muschamp kicked Jenkins off the team in April 2011.

"That was my past, that was a year ago," Jenkins said.

Jenkins joins a defense minus its coordinator, with Gregg Williams indefinitely suspended for his role in the Saints' bounty scandal. Fisher, himself a former defensive coordinator, has said the defense will be run by committee and said veteran cornerback Cortland Finnegan has already called ready to work with his new teammates.

Fisher has past experience dealing with troubled cornerbacks. Unlike Jenkins, Adam "PacMan" Jones, chosen sixth overall by the Titans in 2005 when Fisher was coach there, had problems after joining the NFL. Jones was suspended for the 2007 season for violating the league's personal conduct policy after several arrests and has bounced around the league.

The 23-year-old Jenkins has three sons and a daughter. In a response to a report by NFL.com that he used marijuana at North Alabama, Jenkins said, "Rumors are going to be rumors.”