The Jets’ Kris Jenkins, center, talking with teammate Damien Woody and Cleveland’s Shaun Rogers before a preseason game, has adapted to his team’s 3-4 defensive scheme.

AP / Mark Duncan

FOXBORO — He’s really big, pretty quick, and it takes a heck of an effort to move him.

Since taking over as head coach of the New York Jets three years ago, Eric Mangini has been retooling the defensive personnel to fit his 3-4 scheme, and this year, he acquired an anchor for the front seven at nose tackle: Kris Jenkins.

Jenkins, listed at 6-foot-4 and 349 pounds, was part of a talented defensive line with the Panthers, but there was one problem when the Jets acquired him in a trade with Carolina, he had no prior experience in a 3-4 defense.

Players who have played defensive tackle in a 4-3 are used to trying to push through the line and create havoc. But a nose in a 3-4 is essentially responsible for taking on the interior offensive linemen while the defensive ends and linebackers apply pressure.

Learning the new role takes patience, and it’s not always easy.

“It’s been work,” Jenkins said in a conference call with New England reporters yesterday. “Honestly, they’ve made me earn my keep around here and it’s been a big adjustment. I know a lot of people look at it and wonder, how do you do it coming from a 4-3? It’s just taken time. It’s been a lot of time and it’s been a lot of hard work to catch up.”

New England’s own dominating nose tackle, Vince Wilfork, appreciates the work Jenkins has had to put in. When he was drafted by New England out of the University of Miami, he was used to being a two-gap tackle and had to make that adjustment.

But Wilfork has become one of the best in the league, and believes that Jenkins, in just a few months’ time, has become an elite nose as well.

“To come to a zero [gap] nose tackle and to make progress like he’s made, it’s like he’s been playing it forever. Just to see him playing it for the first year, you really forget about that because of the plays he’s been making,” Wilfork said. “That’s a big, big upgrade for their defense in a positive way. He has that defense working very, very well and I’m pretty sure it’s going to continue.”

Wilfork studies other players at his position, like San Diego’s Jamal Williams and Casey Hampton in Pittsburgh, and believes that Jenkins is right up there with them.

Ironically, Wilfork was one of the players that Jenkins studied as he tried to get a grasp on what was expected of him in his new position.

“Vince is a very good nose tackle,” Jenkins said of the New England Pro Bowler. Asked what he picked up from watching film of Wilfork, Jenkins replied, “How to be stout. He’s very stout when he gets in there, and if you notice the way he plays, it’s very hard for offensive linemen to move him. He stays very low to the ground and he has a great center. That’s basically what you look at when you’re looking at anybody.”

Mangini said Jenkins’ commitment to “playing the technique” properly has gone a long way toward his picking up the nose-tackle spot.

While Jenkins is at the center of a defense that is allowing just 76 yards per game on a stingy 3.2 yards per carry, he has also kept his ability to get after it in the pass rush, with two sacks and seven quarterback pressures.

New England’s rushing offense has been very effective in recent weeks despite its spate of injuries, and the offensive line will have to figure out a way to succeed against Jenkins to continue that trend.

“You just go in there and hit him as hard as you can and hope that’s enough,” Pats’ left guard Logan Mankins said. “Sometimes it is and sometimes it isn’t.”

smanza@projo.com