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Why 49ers QB Brock Purdy Loves Throwing to Jauan Jennings

How many wins would the 49ers have this season if they didn't have Jauan Jennings? Two or three?
Grant Cohn|
Dec 1, 2024; Orchard Park, New York, USA; San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Jauan Jennings (15) tries to avoid a tackle by Buffalo Bills cornerback Christian Benford (47) after making a catch in the third quarter at Highmark Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mark Konezny-Imagn Images
Dec 1, 2024; Orchard Park, New York, USA; San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Jauan Jennings (15) tries to avoid a tackle by Buffalo Bills cornerback Christian Benford (47) after making a catch in the third quarter at Highmark Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mark Konezny-Imagn Images | Mark Konezny-Imagn Images

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San Francisco 49ers

How many wins would the 49ers have this season if they didn't have Jauan Jennings? Two or three?

At 5-7, their season has been a huge disappointment. But without Jennings, it would have been a nightmare, because he has become the no. 1 wide receiver on the team. He currently leads the team in targets (70), catches (50) and receiving yards (684).

How did Jennings become Purdy's go-to guy?

“I think he does a good job with using his frame and creating separation with just how big he is," Purdy said this week. "And he’s a guy that I feel like has actually got some underrated speed. And it may not look like that, but he really does. He gets up on guys quick and gets out of cuts pretty well. And his radius for the ball and stuff is really good. So, definitely trusting him. He’s an easy guy, as a quarterback, to see, run his routes as a target, know where he is going to be and just give him a chance and he'll come down with it. And so, we've definitely grown in that area but would like to continue to get him more targets and get him the ball whenever we can, in the right matchups, in the right situation.”

Notice that Purdy repeatedly mentioned Jennings' big frame and that he's easy to see from the pocket. Remember, Purdy is relatively short for a quarterback so it's no wonder he tends to throw to taller receivers such as Jennings and Kittle.

The 49ers should keep that in mind when they draft receivers in the future.

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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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