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Is Jauan Jennings Entering His Final Season with the 49ers?

Let's see if Jennings shows up to OTAs this week. I'm guessing he won't.
Grant Cohn|
Sep 26, 2021; Santa Clara, California, USA; San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Jauan Jennings (15) stands on the sideline during the fourth quarter against the Green Bay Packers at Levi's Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Darren Yamashita-USA TODAY Sports
Sep 26, 2021; Santa Clara, California, USA; San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Jauan Jennings (15) stands on the sideline during the fourth quarter against the Green Bay Packers at Levi's Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Darren Yamashita-USA TODAY Sports | Darren Yamashita-USA TODAY Sports

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San Francisco 49ers

Jauan Jennings didn't show up to OTAs last week and the 49ers didn't explain why.

It's probably fair to assume Jennings wants a contract extension and the 49ers haven't offered him one. Instead, they gave him a second-round tender because he's a restricted free-agent, and he hasn't signed it yet.

The tender essentially is a one-year deal worth nearly $5 million, which is a significant amount of money for a wide receiver who started two games and caught just 19 passes last season. Clearly, the 49ers value Jennings -- just not enough to sign him beyond this year.

The 49ers can't afford to pay market rate for a no. 3 receiver, because they don't throw to that player much. They have to throw the ball to Brandon Aiyuk, Deebo Samuel, George Kittle and Christian McCaffrey, plus they play Kyle Juszczyk roughly 50 percent of the offensive snaps, so there isn't much playing time left over for Jennings.

But extending Jennings' contract actually would make him more affordable this year. Remember, this offseason the 49ers gave a one-year contract extension to Colton McKivitz, who's not as good as of a player as Jennings. Extending McKivitz's deal reduced his cap number for 2024, and he has no guaranteed money for 2025. I'm guessing the 49ers could offer Jennings a similar deal. And they should.

But it's possible Jennings simply wants to leave. He'll never be more than a slot receiver for the 49ers, who just drafted a wide receiver in Round 1. Perhaps he feels he'll get more targets and playing time on a different team, which could be true.

Let's see if Jennings shows up to OTAs this week. I'm guessing he won't.

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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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