Hawaii Police says that Packers’ Cullen Jenkins’ father is safe
According to Honolulu Police Department, father of Cullen Jenkins, defensive end for the Green Bay Packers, is safe and sound in Hawaii.
Jenkins had not heard from his father since last Christmas and Michelle Yu, spokesman for the Honolulu Police Department said that officers performed a “welfare check” on Darome Jenkins after inquiries and reports were made about where he was.
Cullen’s older brother, Kris, said that his father spoke to Cullen after seeing his missing reports. He said in an email that, "Our family has endured some very hard times, but we are strong and we will find a way to get through this as well." Kris is a
defensive tackle for the New York Giants.
As Cullen was getting ready for Super Bowl XLV against the Pittsburgh Steelers down in Arlington, Texas, he couldn’t help but wonder why he hadn’t heard from his father in over a month. He also left a ticket for the Super Bowl especially for his father,
in case he decided to show up.
Just a few hours before hearing from him, Cullen spoke about his father with reporters, "That's the thing that makes it difficult, because you really don't know. I don't know if he's just being distant right now or has kind of pulled back from everybody,
or who knows?"
The last conversation that Cullen had with his father was through text messages back in December.
"It wasn't an incident, but there was a discussion, and it wasn't a bad discussion by any means," Jenkins said. "He was talking a little bit about how he was feeling about certain things in the family, and maybe feeling a little left out and things like
that. That's what makes this so difficult, you know, because you just don't know."
After that, neither Cullen nor Kris heard from their father.
"I tried to contact him again," Cullen Jenkins said, "and his phone was off."
Both Cullen and Kris are very close to his father. Darome was a single father while raising his sons in Ypsilanti, Michigan, and Cullen was extremely concerned when his father disappeared all of a sudden.
"That's like the core of our family growing up," Cullen said. "It was me, my dad and my brother."
Jenkins has been with the Packers for seven years now, and this Sunday’s Super Bowl could be his last with the Packers. He says that he is not planning for the offseason just yet, seeing as he will be a free agent.
"We've got a good thing going here right now," Jenkins said. "I'm just trying to enjoy on this whole thing and not even concentrate on that stuff."
Cullen was signed by the Packers as a free agent after being unnoticed in the 2003 NFL Draft. After a good season with NFL Europe and an impressive performance in the training camp, Cullen was added to the Packers’ active roster. He was a backup to Kabeer
Gbaja-Biamila and became the starter near the end of the 2006 season. He started for only one month but recorded 6.5 sacks, and even played a game against the Detroit Lions in which he had three sacks.
He batted down nine passes during the 2007 season, the most by a defensive lineman for the Packers, after signing a four-year $16 million contract. Cullen was replaced for KGB to start, but he played in only four games before tearing his pectoral muscle,
placing him on season ending injured reserve.
The injury comes as a shock as Kris tore his ACL for the second season in a row and is also on season ending injured reserve.
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