Buccaneers place Mike Jenkins on injured reserve

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have placed Mike Jenkins on injured reserve with a pectoral injury. The veteran cornerback missed all of preseason with a hamstring injury, and then proceeded to pay exactly 31 snaps against the Carolina Panthers during which he was made to look like a rookie by wide receiver Kelvin Benjamin.

Johnthan Banks take over as the full-time starter in place of Jenkins, after splitting snaps with him during the first game. Banks looked pretty solid against Carolina, and is probably a better player than Jenkins anyway. He did start the game ahead of Jenkins, but the Bucs still listed Jenkins as the starter on their depth chart.

Losing Jenkins does significantly hurt the team's depth at cornerback, though. Last year's undrafted rookie Rashaan Melvin is now the main backup, while newly-added Crezdon Butler and undrafted rookie Brandon Dixon could be in the mix as well. The Bucs work with separate slot cornerbacks, and Leonard Johnson fulfills that role.

The Bucs also confirmed yesterday's reports that they signed cornerback Crezdon Butler, claimed defensive end Jacquies Smith and waived defensive end Scott Solomon. Finally, they added defensive end Adrian Robinson to their practice squad.