In the midst of the Brandin Cooks first-day-of-the-league-season mayhem, a report came out that the Eagles offered Malcolm Jenkins, along with a third and fourth round pick, to the Saints for their young wide receiver. The Saints wanted Jenkins and a second, so the deal fell apart. Many people didn’t really buy this, like me, Brandon Lee Gowton, and Les Bowen, the world’s three most correct ponificators.

Adam Schefter even came out and shot the story down, saying that the Saints brought up Jenkins – not the Eagles – and the Eagles didn’t want to part with him. Dueling sources, dueling stories. Bowen summed it up nicely:

But Mike Florio of PFT is very, very insistent that he is right and Adam Schefter is wrong and also a puppet:

On Wednesday, ESPN’s Adam Schefter tried to create the impression that the Eagles didn’t offer Jenkins to the Saints. The only problem with this is that, you know, they did…

“Let me explain to you what happened there,” Schefter told 97.5 The Fanatic, via BleedingGreenNation.com. “The Saints wanted Malcolm Jenkins. The Eagles did not want to give up Malcolm Jenkins, OK? So did his name comes up in those talks? Yes, it did. It came up driven from the Saints. The Eagles did not want to part with Malcolm Jenkins.”

“Now, if a trade eventually got worked out, which it never did, for Philadelphia’s standpoint . . . any Brandin Cooks deal in Philadelphia was going to have to involve Malcolm Jenkins. And Philly just wasn’t willing to go to where it was to offer enough to get Brandin Cooks. They just did not want to part with Malcolm Jenkins. But yes, New Orleans wanted him, that’s correct.”

Sure, so the Eagles didn’t offer up Jenkins, but he came up, and he (and the picks offered) were sticking points for both sides, so a deal didn’t happen, according to Schefter. I’m sure it happens all the time. And if the Eagles were looking out for the optics, they’d deny that they brought up Jenkins. But Florio says not so fast, my friend:

As one league source with knowledge of the talks explained it to PFT in the aftermath of Schefter’s suggestion that Jenkins wasn’t offered to the Saints, the Eagles now want (need) to create the impression Jenkins wasn’t offered to the Saints. Obviously, the Eagles want (need) to avoid creating the impression that Jenkins generally is on the trading block and/or to minimize any potential frustration or confusion from Jenkins or the rest of the team..

So now Florio is insisting that either the Eagles are straight-up Schefter’s source (duh) and using him to puppet whatever they want to get out there, or that Schefty is knowingly complicit in spreading a false story. And this, all because “one league source with knowledge of the talks explained it to PFT.” Source Wars?