Jenkins eyeing minicamp

Kris Jenkins hasn't been on the field since Oct. 18, when he was helped off the turf at the Meadowlands after tearing his left ACL against the Bills.

But that could change soon if the beefy nose tackle gets his wish.

Jenkins, who's currently doing his running in the pool, wants to participate in next month's mandatory minicamp, slated for June 14-16. The staff, of course, wants to be careful with one of their big defensive cogs but Jenkins wants no part of sitting on the sidelines for too much longer.

"I'm not a treasure," Jenkins said a few minutes ago in the Jets locker room. "I'm a D-lineman. I've still got to work. I'm a grunt man. I've got to do it the grunt way."

That includes getting more than a few reps in during training camp up in Cortland as well.

"Absolutely," he said. "The thing is I have to do some work in training camp, I don’t have he luxury of being able to sit back and just be a veteran. Right now, coming off the injury and things like that, I have to get my knee to the point where it is game ready and 90 percent of that honestly is getting to the point where I trust it. Because that's the hardest thing that you go through when you go through a surgery.

"You don’t want to feel that pain, you don’t want to go through that type of thing again. So the thing is everything that you do for a while, you kind of act like a cat in water – you are jumping out quick. It's hard for a second, but once you get back to that point, once you get a couple of bumps on it and things like that, it’s like OK. My knee is OK. It’s there, it can support my body. Then I can start throwing myself in the mix again."

But before he really hits his stride, Jenkins knows he has to shed more than a few pounds. Sure, there's that whole weight-loss challenge issued by Rex Ryan to him and RT Damien Woody earlier in the week, but Jenkins doesn't want to drop the weight simply so he can win a friendly contest.

He's aware his weight has gotten a bit out of control during his rehab -- although he hasn't ballooned up to 420 like he did when he tore his right ACL -- and he has to get it back to more of a manageable figure.

After some initial prodding and the realization that Woody outed himself with his weight, Jenkins offered his actual current poundage, which hovers at 390. He said he's committed to shedding 30 pounds by training camp -- including 15 by minicamp so the trainers won't be apprehensive about him getting on the field -- and a total of 45 pounds by the season opener.

Jenkins considered his time in Las Vegas two weekends ago to watch the Floyd Mayweather-Sugar Shane Mosley fight his last hurrah or sorts, and has cut out frosty adult beverages and carbs out of his diet.

He's also had some fun at his coach lately.

"I’ve been talking trash with Rex," Jenkins said. " I was hitting some poses today when he was on the treadmill, poking my stomach out and stuff, rubbing it and everything, and looking at him like, 'I still see where you are at. So right now, it’s light. But it will get a little more intense as things go on. Me, like I said, I’ve got a lot of muscle, so when I [work out], fat goes quick. So when I start looking rocked up and everything …"