NFL Rumors: A.J. Jenkins Doesn't Look Ready to Help San Francisco 49ers

The word coming out of San Francisco 49ers mini-camp hasn't been good—at least as far as it pertains to first-round draft pick A.J. Jenkins.

According to reports, the wide receiver arrived at camp out of shape. Not exactly the best way to make a solid first impression. But, surely, Jenkins must have rounded into form after finishing up rookie mini-camp. Right?

Unfortunately, by the time regular OTAs began, Jenkins hadn't pulled himself together. According to Grant Cohn of the Santa Rosa Press Democrat, Jenkins was just about the worst wideout on the field throughout mini-camp.

Amazingly, Jenkins was outplayed by a couple of undrafted camp invitees: Nathan Palmer and Brian Tyms. Now, it's possible the 49ers have cornered the market on undrafted wide receiver talent evaluation, and Palmer and Tyms are both future Pro Bowlers. Of course, it's probably more likely that something's wrong with Jenkins.

Hopefully, Jenkins' struggles are still tied to his poor conditioning. Because although being out of shape is a bad sign, at least it's a shortcoming that the team can remedy. The other possible explanation—which should concern 49ers fans much more—is that San Francisco simply didn't evaluate Jenkins correctly.

After all, a quick look at the post-draft analysis on Jenkins reveals that he's been described as undisciplined, lazy and even difficult to coach during his college career. Those are some serious red flags.

Of course, the silver lining in all of this is that the 49ers shouldn't need Jenkins to play a major role this season; the additions of Randy Moss and Mario Manningham, along with a (hopefully) focused Michael Crabtree, means Jenkins should have some time to learn from the sidelines.

Still, it would be a shame for the 49ers to have misjudged a first-round pick so poorly. And while there's plenty of time for Jenkins to pull himself together before the season, he certainly hasn't impressed thus far.