All 49ers

Jauan Jennings Could be Entering his Final Season with the 49ers

Enjoy watching Jennings in the red and gold while you can.
Grant Cohn|
Dec 30, 2024; Santa Clara, California, USA; San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Jauan Jennings (15) and Detroit Lions cornerback Terrion Arnold (0) get tangled after a play during the first quarter at Levi's Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Sergio Estrada-Imagn Images
Dec 30, 2024; Santa Clara, California, USA; San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Jauan Jennings (15) and Detroit Lions cornerback Terrion Arnold (0) get tangled after a play during the first quarter at Levi's Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Sergio Estrada-Imagn Images | Sergio Estrada-Imagn Images

In this story:

San Francisco 49ers

Last year, the 49ers' most improved player was Jauan Jennings. Next year, he'll be a free agent. Which means this year could be his final season on the team.

If Jennings repeats his performance from 2024 and 2025, he will get a big contract in free agency and the 49ers probably won't be the team that gives it to him. That's because they presumably will be spending so much money already on Brock Purdy and Brandon Aiyuk.

Jennings was never seen as a long-term foundational player. That's why the 49ers gave him just a two-year extension in 2024 after coming off a 19-catch season in 2023. But in the Super Bowl, something clicked for Jennings and he was the 49ers' most productive wide receiver in that game. Then, Jennings carried over that production into the 2024 regular season and was the 49ers' most consistent wide receiver all season.

Jennings is not an elite, top-10 wide receiver in the NFL. He's too slow to be in that group. In fact, he's at his best in the slot. But he's one of the best wide receivers in the NFL at blocking, making contested catches and moving the chains on third down. Which means he has tremendous value even though he's not a deep threat.

Some team that uses three-wide-receiver formations much more frequently than the 49ers do probably will sign Jennings next year. Maybe the Rams or the Bengals or the Chiefs. On the 49ers, the third receiver typically plays less than the fullback who gets paid roughly $4 million per season. So it's hard for the 49ers to justify paying their third receiver much more than that.

Enjoy watching Jennings in the red and gold while you can.

Read more

Published
Grant Cohn
GRANT COHN

Grant Cohn has covered the San Francisco 49ers daily since 2011. He spent the first nine years of his career with the Santa Rosa Press Democrat where he wrote the Inside the 49ers blog and covered famous coaches and athletes such as Jim Harbaugh, Colin Kaepernick and Patrick Willis. In 2012, Inside the 49ers won Sports Blog of the Year from the Peninsula Press Club. In 2020, Cohn joined FanNation and began writing All49ers. In addition, he created a YouTube channel which has become the go-to place on YouTube to consume 49ers content. Cohn's channel typically generates roughly 3.5 million viewers per month, while the 49ers' official YouTube channel generates roughly 1.5 million viewers per month. Cohn live streams almost every day and posts videos hourly during the football season. Cohn is committed to asking the questions that 49ers fans want answered, and providing the most honest and interactive coverage in the country. His loyalty is to the reader and the viewer, not the team or any player or coach. Cohn is a new-age multimedia journalist with an old-school mentality, because his father is Lowell Cohn, the legendary sports columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle from 1979 to 1993. The two have a live podcast every Tuesday. Grant Cohn grew up in Oakland and studied English Literature at UCLA from 2006 to 2010. He currently lives in Oakland with his wife.

Share on XFollow grantcohn
Home/News