IT WAS around this time last year – July 20, in fact – that Adelaide forward Josh Jenkins ended months of speculation and signed a five-year contract extension with the Crows.

Now, all the talk and rumours are centred on gun defender Jake Lever.

The 21-year-old seemingly has the football world at his feet, with rival clubs reportedly prepared to prepared to throw big dollars his way to prise him out of West Lakes.

"I can tell you from experience, I would be surprised if he's expending too much energy on it," Jenkins said.

"When you hear him say he's willing to leave it in his manager's hands, that would be exactly what he's doing.

"It's more people externally want to talk to him about it.

"Not just media, but his friends and family might want to talk about it more than he does.

"His performances suggest he is focused on footy."

That he is.

Lever was arguably best on ground for the Crows in last Friday night's 59-point thumping of the Western Bulldogs.

His ability to back himself into a contest, take contested marks and make the right decisions have seen his value skyrocket.

Lever revealed on Tuesday the Crows had offered him a contract for next year, but he was in no rush to make a decision.

The longer it drags out, the more Crows supporters will be worried it's another case of losing one of their most talented prospects.

It's already happened in recent years with Jack Gunston (Hawthorn), Phil Davis (Greater Western Sydney), and of course, Brownlow medallist and now Geelong superstar, Patrick Dangerfield.

"That's Jake's right and that's what players are continuing to do," Jenkins said.

"That's just the evolution of where player movement is heading."

It was much more cut and dried for Jenkins when he agreed to put pen to paper midway through last season.

There are key differences in both cases. Jenkins was 27 at the time and had the security of a five-year deal, whereas Lever has another decade of his footy career ahead of him.

"I had a figure in mind that the club got to and it's simple as that," Jenkins said.

"I probably had enough of talking about it in the street as much as anything.

"I just wanted to get it done, but each individual case is extremely different.

"Jake, and Mitch (McGovern) to a lesser extent, are happy with where things are at.

"I certainly hope they both remain here because we've seen how talented and how important they are to our side.

"They're only going to be more talented and more important as the years go on, so I'd like to think they will hang around."