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The Best-Kept Secret on the 49ers' Roster

The 49ers have one most star-studded rosters in the NFL.
Grant Cohn|
Nov 10, 2024; Tampa, Florida, USA; San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Ricky Pearsall (14) celebrates with wide receiver Jauan Jennings (15) after scoring a touchdown against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the first quarter at Raymond James Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images
Nov 10, 2024; Tampa, Florida, USA; San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Ricky Pearsall (14) celebrates with wide receiver Jauan Jennings (15) after scoring a touchdown against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the first quarter at Raymond James Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images | Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images

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San Francisco 49ers

The 49ers have one most star-studded rosters in the NFL.

Christian McCaffrey, George Kittle, Fred Warner, Nick Bosa, Brock Purdy -- they're all household names and the 49ers pay them a ton of money.

And then there's Jauan Jennings, who's entering the final season of his contract and is set to earn just $7.5 million this year despite catching just one fewer pass than Kittle did in 2024. That's why Bleacher Report says Jennings is the 49ers' best-kept secret.

"San Francisco’s receiving corps was a mess last year between Deebo Samuel’s declining production, Brandon Aiyuk seeking a new contract and then suffering a season-ending knee injury, and Ricky Pearsall beginning the campaign on the NFI list after getting shot in the chest," writes Bleacher Report's Matt Holder.

"But the silver lining is that it paved the way for Jennings to have a breakout performance.

"In the three years prior to 2024, the 2020 seventh-round pick had 78 catches for 963 yards and seven touchdowns. But he managed to double his career production last season with 77 grabs, 975 yards and six scores. That sets up for Jennings to be a quality WR3, at the least, now that Samuel is in Washington."

Jennings' breakout season actually began in the Super Bowl where he outshined Kittle, Aiyuk and Samuel and probably would have been the Super Bowl MVP had the 49ers not collapsed in overtime.

Now, it seems as though Jennings most likely will sign with another team next year -- the 49ers probably won't be able to pay him after paying Aiyuk and Purdy.

Enjoy the 49ers' best-kept secret while you can.

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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.

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