The Kansas City Chiefs made a lot of sense as a potential home for Janoris Jenkins, but he was claimed by the Saints instead.
The New Orleans Saints ended up as the winning team to put in a waiver claim on veteran cornerback Janoris Jenkins after he was recently released from the New York Giants last Friday.
Jenkins had to wait until late Monday afternoon for the waiver period to expire and his potential new teams to be revealed. However, Jenkins will reportedly wait until Tuesday to officially land with the Saints since they are playing the Indianapolis Colts on Monday Night Football, per NFL reporter Tom Pelissero.
Jenkins had been linked with the Kansas City Chiefs for myriad reasons since his release from the Giants, most notably since the Chiefs have been thin at cornerback for the last couple weeks due to injuries to both rookie Rashad Fenton (hamstring) and Morris Claiborne (shoulder). That leaves the Chiefs with only Kendall Fuller, Bashaud Breeland, and Charvarius Ward and Alex Brown as healthy and available cornerbacks.
In addition, Jenkins had played for Chiefs defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo together for a couple years during their overlap in the Big Apple.
Jenkins was released for using a derogatory slur in a response to someone on Twitter. In addition, he refused, initially, to apologize and tried to give context for it instead of responding as the team wished. Further meetings with team brass, including head coach Pat Shurmur, lead to his ultimate release.
The Saints will be playing in the postseason but finish out the season with games against the Tennessee Titans and Carolina Panthers.