The 49ers Should Trade a Pick to the Vikings for Jauan Jennings

They need each other.

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The 49ers are undefeated, but they're extremely banged up at wide receiver and haven't fully replaced Jauan Jennings in their offense just yet.

Here's how they can replace Jennings: Trade for him. Bring him back, as they brought back Deebo Samuel in the offseason.

The Vikings don't seem to want him, even though they gave him a one-year, $8 million contract this offseason. So far this season, Jennings has just one catch for one yard in two games. He's beyond an afterthought in their offense. They don't know what to do with him or how to use him. He needs the 49ers.

Meanwhile, the 49ers thought they replaced Jennings with Mike Evans. And overall, Evans is a much, much better receiver than Jennings, but they're different players. Evans can't replace everything Jennings did for the offense.

Jennings is a big crash-test dummy. He's 6-3. He catches everything over the middle, even if it's way over his head. He comes down with the ball no matter how many hits he takes, and he often gains yards after contact. That's why he was such a good fit in the 49ers' offense. Kyle Shanahan's scheme is built around that 15-yard throw over the middle, and Brock Purdy throws that pass as well as any quarterback in the league.

Evans can run that route, but he's not as durable as Jennings. Evans is almost 33, and he currently has a rib strain because he ran a dig route on the 49ers' first play against the Cardinals this past Sunday and got smacked in the side by Pro Bowl safety Budda Baker.

Asking Evans at his age to run dig routes and take big hits from safeties every week is a bad idea. The 49ers need to manage him and keep him healthy, and the best way to do that is to throw him passes near the sideline, where he's one-on-one against a cornerback and doesn't have to worry about a safety breaking his ribs.

That's why the 49ers need Jennings back. He would allow the 49ers to preserve Evans and not overuse him. Plus, he would let the 49ers keep Deebo Samuel as a gadget receiver/running back/return man, not a bona fide starting wideout. They've been using him perfectly so far this season. You'd hate to see his usage change.

To be clear, I don't expect the Vikings to trade Jennings back to the 49ers just three games into his tenure in Minnesota. But if he doesn't produce in the next few weeks, the 49ers absolutely should give the Vikings a call and find out what they'd like in exchange for a veteran wide receiver they're not using.