The Chicago Bears made news when Matt Nagy told reporters that he would activate Teven Jenkins‘ 21-day window to return from the IR. What this means is that Jenkins will practice, but will not be considered on the active roster. He has 21 days before they have to make a roster move and activate him, and if they do not, then he will be deemed out for the season.
When the Chicago Bears brought David Montgomery back from the injured reserved, they took just six of his 21 days, activating him for his first week eligible. However, Jenkins is going to be a bit more delicate.
David Montgomery is an experienced veteran, and while his injury is serious, Teven Jenkins had questions with his back coming from pre-draft. Considering Jenkins is a rookie, he missed the entire preseason and every practice through today, and it is a back injury, the team will likely be hesitant to activate him within the first week.
So, Jenkins will be out this week against the Ravens in most cases. This will leave him with two weeks, the Lions or Cardinals game to make his debut. The thought would be that they would not activate him unless they thought that he could also start, so they will certainly be leaning towards a later date.
However, we all know that if he wanted a soft landing, it would be by activating him against the Lions for his first career start. Another factor for the Lions game is that it is a Thursday.
Considering he is just returning and is going to miss this week, it would also be tough to make the swap with the quick turnaround. On the flip side, after Thursday’s game, they have 10 days where they can activate Jenkins and get him involved with the starters. Off of a mini-bye may be a perfect time.
We will have to listen for practice reports to see how he is feeling, but while it is certainly possible to see Teven Jenkins starting Week 12 against Detroit, it is more likely that Teven Jenkins makes his Chicago Bears debut Week 13 at home against the Arizona Cardinals.