By Julie Bacanskas

Now in the eighth season of his NFL career, Malcolm Jenkins has perspective.

It didn’t come when he was selected No. 14 overall in the 2009 NFL Draft by the New Orleans Saints. It didn’t come from the Super Bowl his team won that same season as the rookie was credited with five tackles in the win over the Indianapolis Colts. But when he was asked to convert to the role of free safety in 2010, he started thinking - thinking about what sort of impact he wanted to have as a player and as a man.

“I started to think about the league and when I’m done with football what do I want to do? Where do I want to invest my money?” recalls Jenkins today. “When it’s all said and done, what would I like to say that I did with all that I have? The answer I came up with is that I want to be able to invest in people.”

While still with the Saints, Jenkins found a way to breathe some life into this vision. After talking with his mother, Gwendolyn, he created The Malcolm Jenkins Foundation. The mission was to emphasize mentorship, character development and leadership for youth.

“I don’t want to just hand stuff out to people. I don’t want to just spend five minutes with people and that’s it. I want to build people up to really succeed and then have them in turn go around and do the same thing for others,” Jenkins says.

In 2014, the safety signed a three-year deal with the Eagles. He finished his first season with 80 tackles and a career-high three interceptions. In 2015, he was named to his first-ever Pro Bowl after registering career and team highs of 120 tackles, 15 passes defensed and three forced fumbles.