The San Francisco 49ers may not be aiming to rest players in Week 18 even with the postseason out of the picture, but they may not have a choice given some of their injury issues.
One player who should be healthy after not showing up on the practice participation report is wide receiver Jauan Jennings. Jennings has been the breakout star of the 2024 season for the 49ers, and now with one week to go he’s just 77 yards shy of his first-career 1,000-yard season.
Head coach Kyle Shanahan on Wednesday said he tries to keep milestones like that in mind for players, and will for Jennings on Sunday.
“Yeah, 77. I’ll keep that down. I’m sure Jauan will tell me too,” said Shanahan. “But yeah, you always want to do that stuff for guys, especially in a situation where you can think about it. It’s insulting to think about it just to the situation everyone, if you’re competing for a playoff spot or something like that, but always. I would love to help that out for guys. You’ve got to be somewhat careful of it.
“I remember last year watching the Rams trying to get (Los Angeles Rams WR) Puka (Nacua) the record, which I know they wanted to get him in and out. So we were doing everything we could to deny him the ball. I remember he came to the sidelines on like a one-yard gain and I told him, I was like, ‘yeah, (Los Angeles Rams head coach) Sean’s (McVay) going to have to play you to the end of this game because we’re not giving you your record. And he just laughed and I laughed at it. We’re not playing the next week, so I’d love to help guys do that out.”
Jennings is at 923 receiving yards and six touchdowns on 70 receptions.
To put his season and the potential for 1,000 yards into context, he entered the year with 78 receptions for 963 yards and seven touchdowns in 45 career games.
The 49ers badly needed a WR to step up this season with some of their injury issues, and Jennings delivered with a career year that proves he’s capable of being a go-to No. 1 or 2 receiver. Getting him to 1,000 yards would put a perfect exclamation point on his breakout campaign.
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