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For the second consecutive long weekend off, Rayshawn Jenkins was leaving his “day job” to moonlight at his side gig on Florida’s First Coast. “I’m actually flying out tonight,” the Pittsburgh Steelers’ newest safety said proudly, “to go coach. “My son, he plays 10U for the Nease Panthers, and we just won our last game last week, 33-7, and I was proud of that. That was my first game I had ever coached for a padded squad. And it just played out beautiful because we did a lot of work in August to get prepared for this.” The 32-year-old Jenkins — a 10-year NFL veteran safety — serves as offensive coordinator for the young Nease team based about a half-hour’s drive east of Jacksonville and led by 10-year-old Ace Jenkins. “I’m really offensive-minded,” Rayshawn Jenkins said in explaining his play calling role, “which helps me play defense a lot.” The 10U level, Jenkins said, is just the start for him — he plans on getting into higher level coaching after his three children get older. That Jenkins has coaching aspirations sure come as no surprise to those who play with and coach him now. Thursday marked exactly one month since Jenkins went through his first practice with the Steelers. But though he’d signed a week into training camp and missed all of spring practices and minicamp, Jenkins proved a quick learner and under the present circumstances appears poised to be a starter when the regular season opens Sept. 13. “He’s a true pro,” Steelers defensive coordinator Patrick Graham said. “He has a seriousness about his craft and is very coachable. “For someone who’s had a lot of experience, a lot of success, I don’t see a guy coming in there saying, ‘Hey, I’ve done it a certain way. This is how we’re going to do it.’ I see a guy coming in there being open to how we do it and how the Steelers are going to get down in terms of secondary play and being real open to that and doing his best to execute. A really diligent worker (and very) mindful.” As Jenkins is quick to point out, he’s played more than 7,000 snaps of NFL regular-season football over nine pro seasons since joining the Los Angeles Chargers as a fourth-round pick in 2017. The Steelers are his fifth team, translating into myriad head coaches, play callers and position coaches he’s worked under. Though he played primarily as a free safety over his first three NFL seasons, since then and for every team Jenkins has played for he’s taken on extensive deployment back deep, in the box and as a nickel/slot corner. Jenkins played some at each of those spots during the two preseason games he appeared in for the Steelers last month. “This is a space(-based) game now,” Jenkins said. “You have to be able to move with motions. And sometimes you might not want to be in the spot that’s ideal for you, but you have to adapt to it. “It’s just (a case of) the more you can do. I feel like in some cases you could be a liability if you’re only actually one, maybe even two things. When you just got a toolbox full of just a bunch of stuff you can do then that’s when you become more of an asset to the team.” In the immediacy, the Steelers are asking Jenkins to be an asset by filling in for starting safety DeShon Elliott, who opens up the regular season on injured reserve. That is leaving the safety position in the hands of Jaquan Brisker, rookie seventh-round pick Robert Spears-Jennings and Jenkins — though Jalen Ramsey surely will take some snaps lined up at safety as he performs a chess piece-type role in Graham’s defense. That Jenkins within a span of a few weeks went from unsigned to a presumed starter is a testament to his work ethic and mental aptitude. “Rayshawn, he worked and got better every day,” general manager Omar Khan said. “He got acclimated to the defense.” Jenkins admits that after 139 games and 92 starts that he became “a little bit scared” that by the time camps across the league opened that he might not get a call to play a 10th season. Ultimately, now that he’s joined the Steelers, Jenkins can look back on those months in exile more fondly. He kept himself in shape, got to spend quality time with his wife and kids (one of which was born just after last season ended) and began to dabble in coaching. Jenkins is prepared to step in for the Steelers, particularly over the first four weeks when Elliott is not available. “With him being out, obviously there’s a hole, a void, in the defense,” Jenkins said. “I’m a guy that is trusting in his lead that can come in and fill that void.”