Ravens New DT Ready to Dominate

John Jenkins remained unsigned for more than two months, but when the Baltimore Ravens came calling, the 13-year NFL veteran knew he'd found the right team for him.

"The Ravens have a similar background to what I'm used to, where I feel like I could dominate in," Jenkins said, per the team's website. "I'm a nose tackle, so there ain't too many get-off-the-rock defenses I can thrive in."

Jenkins, 35, signed wwith the Ravens on May 16 as the replacement for Michael Pierce, who retired back in March. He spent the past two seasons with the Las Vegas Raiders, setting new career-highs with 594 snaps in 2023 and 609 snaps in 2024. However, he never once thought about the number of snaps he was playing because he was having the time of his career.

"Probably the reason why I never knew is because we enjoyed being out there with each other – that cohesiveness and the brotherhood that we built over there [in Vegas]," Jenkins said. "And that is what we're doing here.

"I'm just here to help out the best way I can. Whatever God has in store for me, whatever the team believes is my perfect role, I'm just here to fulfill that."

While he's only been with the team for just over a month, Jenkins is alredy growing close with his new teammates, particularly fellow defensive lineman Travis Jones.

"He can be a dominant player – extremely dominant. He's going to be that," Jenkins said. "I love his mindset on it. He reminds me of a former teammate, Akiem Hicks. Travis wants to be a special player. I see it. I just like his approach to the game with him being so young."

The Ravens added some defensive line depth in the NFL Draft, but Jenkins fills the void of the massive nose tackle that takes up space in the middle, exactly what he does best.

"I'm happy to be here," Jenkins said. "I'm happy that this organization decided to pursue me and thought I was good enough to play for them and where we're going to go, man."