GREEN BAY – Six years ago, all Kenny Clark needed was a handful of non-contact offseason practices to know the Packers might have something in Elgton Jenkins.
The then-Green Bay defensive lineman noticed this dude wasn't like most rookies. The Mississippi State offensive lineman had the size and strength you'd expect from a second-round draft pick, but his mindset was uncommonly polished.
Jenkins wasn't trying to act like he belonged. He already did.
"By camp, we were all like, 'OK, he's gonna be nice,'" said Clark in an October 2024 interview with packers.com. "He wasn't one of those big-eyed rookies when he came in. It felt like he already knew he was gonna start, like he was already set on what he was gonna do. You could just tell by his mentality he was coming in to play."
For seven Green Bay summers, Clark and Jenkins locked horns every day on the practice field. The sweat equity they built against one another propelled the duo to five combined Pro Bowls while becoming undisputed leaders of a young team.
Now, this Sunday at AT&T Stadium, the two friends will finally meet in an actual NFL game when the Packers travel to face Clark's new team, the Dallas Cowboys.
It's a scenario neither side ever saw coming. After signing an extension with Green Bay last summer, Clark fully anticipated playing his 10th NFL season with the team that drafted him in the first round out of UCLA in 2016.
As recently as a month ago, Clark was helping Jenkins reacclimate to center, the position he played mostly in college before transitioning to left guard with the Packers.
"This whole camp, we had so many conversations on the things that I see that he could get better at and things that I could get better at that he told me," Jenkins said. "It's going to be interesting, honestly. This is probably my first time playing against somebody that I practiced with six, seven years, and now I'm playing him."
Because, on the eve of the regular season, Clark received a call from General Manager Brian Gutekunst notifying him that he'd been traded to Dallas in exchange for three-time All-Pro defensive lineman Micah Parsons and two first-round picks.
The trade was announced on Aug. 28, exactly one month before the Packers' and Cowboys' Week 4 matchup. To each man's credit, both have been off to strong starts with their new squads.
Parsons ranks second in the NFL with 19 pressures, according to Next Gen Stats, and sixth in quarterback hits (six) while Clark currently leads Dallas in both pressures (nine) and sacks (one).
While Parsons discussed his former team with the Green Bay media corps on Wednesday, Clark did the same with beat writers down in Texas. The always even-keeled defensive tackle said it's "all love" between him and the Packers but admittedly was caught off-guard at the news he'd been traded.
"That's probably the most shocked I've ever been in my life," Clark said. "Of course, I heard the rumors that the Packers were going to trade for Micah and all that stuff. But I never thought it was gonna be me that was gonna be traded."'
Gutekunst said afterwards it was not an easy call to make. A former team captain and two-time Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year nominee, Clark was a popular figure in the locker room and remains so even a month after his departure.
Head Coach Matt LaFleur praised the three-time Pro Bowl defensive lineman on Wednesday for his "team-first" mentality, openness with younger players and willingness to speak up when the situation called for it.
Clark's mentorship of the Packers' young defensive line has created a tongue-and-cheek debate in the room this week about who gets to swap jerseys with the veteran after the game.
Third-year veteran Colby Wooden, who spent nearly every day of the offseason program with Clark and has since supplanted him in Green Bay's starting lineup, has called dibs.
Beyond memorabilia and winning a football game, Wooden is excited to watch the on-field chess match between Clark and Jenkins unfold after years of seeing them battle in practice.
"He and 'E,' that's gonna be a matchup," said Wooden, who spoke with Clark earlier this week. "I'm gonna be tuned in on that from the sideline. I'm gonna try to see what goes on."
Jenkins, too, has thought about asking Clark for his No. 95 Cowboys jersey post-game but adds, "I really don't want it. I want that Green Bay '97' Kenny. … Hopefully he's got one of them in the closet for me."
That's the Kenny who brought the best out of Jenkins and the one the Packers know will be a challenge to slow down Sunday, especially with his vast knowledge of Green Bay's scheme and how the offensive line may try to set him.
Of course, game plans will be executed, and schemes will be deployed, but the matchup ultimately comes down to Clark's best vs. Jenkins' best – no different than their one-on-ones during training camp every summer at Nitschke Field.
"He always brings his hard hat to work and he's a guy that's been doing that consistently for the last nine years he's been in the league," Jenkins said.
"So we've just got to get ready for it and he's probably going to have his piss hot playing us but it's going to be a good battle though at the end of the day."
