Tag: jauan jennings

6 players who may be too expensive for 49ers to keep in 2025

There’s no way the 49ers let some of these guys go.

With quarterback Brock Purdy’s contract extension likely getting done this offseason, the San Francisco 49ers will need to start adjusting their finances to accommodate a high-dollar QB contract on their books.

Those changes will start this offseason with some free agents potentially getting priced out of what the 49ers are able to afford over the next handful of years. We may also see a handful of cuts made to help manage the team’s cap.

Over the Cap listed six 49ers who could exit as cap casualties during the 2025 offseason, and it includes a couple staples of head coach Kyle Shanahan’s tenure.

Here are the six players:

FB Kyle Juszczyk

Juszczyk already took a paycut last offseason and releasing him would mean a fundamental change in how the 49ers’ offense operates. Unless they draft a replacement for him this year. Perhaps Shanahan is ready to move on from his ultra-reliable fullback as he enters his age 34 season. Juszczyk in 2024 posted three total touchdowns – his most since 2020 – and made his ninth consecutive Pro Bowl.

WR Deebo Samuel

This could get a little weird with Samuel. General manager John Lynch said the team expects to retain Samuel in the final year of the three-year contract he signed in 2022. He had a down year in 2024 and cutting him as a post June 1 release would save them a little money in 2025. However, they’d likely try to explore a trade first if they were hellbent on letting go of the 29-year-old receiver.

WR Jauan Jennings

Cutting Jennings after his breakout 2025 campaign would be pretty wild, especially since he’s relatively inexpensive. Ricky Pearsall and Jacob Cowing are question marks entering their second seasons, Samuel may be on the wrong side of his prime and Brandon Aiyuk’s return from a knee injury may take some time. The 49ers need good players at WR, and Jennings proved he fits that bill with 975 receiving yards in 2024.

DL Maliek Collins

San Francisco needs to overhaul its defensive line and Collins had a nice year in 2024. Cutting him wouldn’t save the 49ers much and it would leave a significant hole in the middle of their defensive line.

DL Yetur Gross-Matos

It’ll be interesting to see if the 49ers run it back with Gross-Matos, who had a disappointing year after signing a two-year deal last offseason. He suffered a knee injury in the preseason and tried to battle through it before landing on IR. He fits the mold of the versatile defensive end who can rush the passer from the interior. But saving nearly $3 million by letting him go may be worth trying to find another option to fill that type of role.

DL Leonard Floyd

Floyd came on strong at the end of the season, but he wasn’t as productive throughout the year as the 49ers may have hoped. They don’t have many defensive end options so Floyd may stick around just out of necessity. If the 49ers want to invest more at DE though, they can save a little less than $2 million by parting ways with the 32-year-old Floyd.

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49ers most improved player in 2024 may be too expensive to keep in SF

The 49ers’ most improved player in 2024 may be too expensive for San Francisco to keep long-term.

With injuries and lack of production elsewhere, San Francisco wide receiver Jauan Jennings morphed into one of the top targets for 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy in 2024.

In the Tennessee alum’s fourth NFL season, Jennings topped all 49ers receivers in targets, catches, yardage and touchdowns.

As a result, Jennings was recognized by Pro Football Focus as the 49ers’ most improved player.

The former seventh-round pick had a career year in the wake of injuries to Brandon Aiyuk and Christian McCaffrey, catching 77 passes for 975 yards and six touchdowns, setting career highs across the board.

Jennings was known more for his blocking abilities up until this season, but he was Brock Purdy’s most favorable target, earning 113 targets in 15 games, while his 83.1 grade was 13th among all receivers in the NFL. He also became one of the best receivers at winning contested catches, as only Terry McLaurin and Drake London had more contested catches than Jennings 20 in the regular season.  – Thomas Valentine, Pro Football Focus.

Jennings inked a two-year, $15.4 million contract ahead of last season that ensures he will be back with the franchise in 2025.

Jennings’ breakout is encouraging in the immediate as the 49ers turn the page toward next season. It gives the franchise confidence that it will have a wealth of offensive weapons on hand at receiver once Brandon Aiyuk is back fully healthy from his torn ACL.

But, Jennings’ emergence this past season may also create some questions for the franchise as well. Does San Francisco want to pay Jennings as its No. 2 receiver? Can it afford to pay Jennings?

The 49ers signed Aiyuk to a four-year, $120 million extension last August that ties him to the franchise through the 2028 season.

Star tight end George Kittle is entering the final year of his current contract after tallying another 1,000-yard receiving season. That type of production has to motivate the 49ers to work toward an extension with Kittle.

And, of course, there’s the potential Purdy extension that looms over everything with San Francisco. Assuming that deals for both get done, that’s a lot of money that might get tied up just in those three players.

Elsewhere at receiver, Deebo Samuel has been a star for San Francisco over the course of his time in the bay, but he’s coming off a disappointing 2024 season and entering the final year of his current contract with the 49ers.

49ers general manager John Lynch indicated that the franchise intends to keep Samuel heading into the 2025 season, but is that indeed the plan? And, if it is, what happens if and when Samuel returns to form?

Would San Francisco think about re-signing Samuel and letting Jennings walk?

The 49ers also just selected Ricky Pearsall out of Florida with its first-round pick in the 2024 NFL draft. The former Gator started to come on late last season, tallying 210 receiving yards, 14 grabs and a pair of touchdowns in the 49ers’ final two games of 2024.

Pearsall finished with 31 receptions, 400 receiving yards and three scores during his rookie campaign. If Pearsall continues to ascend, the franchise could opt to spend less at receiver outside of Aiyuk with Pearsall still on his rookie contract entering 2026.

After the season that Jennings just enjoyed, other franchises’ eyes have to have certainly lit up. In the meantime, it’s a positive problem for San Francisco to have.

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2 Cardinals fined in finale but not 49ers WR Jauan Jennings

Jennings was ejected from the game against the 49ers after consecutive personal foul penalties. He was not fined. Both Cardinals players were.

We all often wonder how NFL on-field officials call penalties on some plays, but the don’t see others during games. That’s also the case with fines the league assesses in the aftermath of games, especially those that weren’t penalized.

Now, with the playoffs beginning, on Saturday the NFL revealed the fines from Week 18 games and the result is surely shocking from the Arizona Cardinals game against the San Francisco 49ers.

Certainly, everyone expected there to be fines for the three players involved in altercations on consecutive plays in the second quarter.

While blocking, 49ers wide receiver Jauan Jennings instigated reactions from Cardinals cornerbacks Star Thomas V and Sean Murphy-Bunting that ended with the players on the ground and other players racing to the scene.

Offsetting personal fouls were called on Jennings and Thomas in the first instance and the same in the second although Jennings and Murphy-Bunting were disqualified.

Jennings was laughing after the second one and then took a lot of time before finally leaving the field. He also threw both players to the ground after the initial contact and hit them in the head area. The block on Murphy-Bunting started at around the 1-yard line and the back-and-forth ended about four yards short of the back of the end zone.

However, after being involved in the two altercations, Jennings inexplicably was not fined. Murphy-Bunting was fined $11,817 while Thomas was fined $5,083.

It’s difficult to imagine any universe where a player could have two personal foul penalties and an ejection, but not be fined.

There was a 49ers player fined for the use of his helmet on a first-quarter play in the game. Fullback Kyle Juszczyk was the lead blocker on a Patrick Taylor run and lowered his helmet into the head and neck area of Cardinals linebacker Mack Wilson Sr., who had missed the game two weeks before that against the Carolina Panthers because of a concussion.

Wilson took exception to the block and briefly got in the face of Juszczyk, who was fined $16,619. There was no penalty flagged on the play.

Get more Cardinals and NFL coverage from Cards Wire’s Jess Root and others by listening to the latest on the Rise Up, See Red podcast. Subscribe on Spotify, YouTube or Apple podcasts.

 

Sean Murphy-Bunting of Cards, Jauan Jennings of 49ers tossed after end zone brawl

Sean Murphy-Bunting and Jauan Jennings were tossed for a fight

Jauan Jennings of the San Francisco 49ers will come up 25 yards short of 1,000 receiving yards. He has no one to blame but himself.

Jennings has been fierce in the past couple of games and on Sunday against the Arizona Cardinals, the wide receiver got into a fight with Sean Murphy-Bunting in the end zone.

An official was injured in the fracas. Both players were disqualified.

Jauan Jennings ejected from Week 18, falls short of 1,000 yards

The fourth-year pass catcher was ejected against the Cardinals after back-to-back unnecessary roughness penalties in the second quarter.

Heading into Week 18, Jauan Jennings had the chance to set a first-time career milestone. With one game left on the schedule, Jennings had a career-best 923 yards receiving, needing only 77 yards in Week 18 against the Arizona Cardinals for his first career 1000-yard season.

After an impressive start with a flurry of targets against the Cardinals, the former Tennessee Volunteer will end the season short of 1000 yards receiving.

Following back-to-back unnecessary roughness penalties in a chippy sequence in the second quarter, Jennings was ejected from the game against the Cardinals, ending his season.

Via @TheSFNiners on Twitter:

Jennings exited the game leading the 49ers in receiving with seven catches for 52 yards on 10 targets from Josh Dobbs against the Cardinals.

Jennings will finish the season with 977 yards receiving to go along with 77 receptions and six touchdowns on a breakout campaign. Jennings set new career-highs for yards, touchdowns and receptions in 2024-25.

This post originally appeared on Niners Wire! Follow us on Facebook and Twitter!

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49ers will try to reward breakout offensive star in Week 18 vs. Cardinals

1k-and-Jauan?

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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Brock Purdy finds Jauan Jennings for early TD vs. Bears

Brock Purdy and the 49ers struck early with a touchdown pass top Jauan Jennings against the Bears.

Following a pair of frustrating blowout losses, the San Francisco 49ers didn’t waste much time bouncing back early against the Chicago Bears on Sunday in Santa Clara.

After an impressive drive down the field to open the game, the 49ers finished their opening possession with a touchdown. Brock Purdy found Jauan Jennings for a short 7-yard touchdown pass to get the 49ers’ on the board, 7-0.

Prior to his touchdown pass to Jennings, Purdy hit George Kittle and Isaac Guerendo for back-to-back long gains to set up the 49ers in the red zone.

Via @49ers on Twitter:

This post originally appeared on Niners Wire! Follow us on Facebook and Twitter!

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49ers highlights: Jauan Jennings takes over vs. Seahawks

Jauan Jennings adds to his impressive performance against the Seahawks with a touchdown reception in the fourth quarter.

With George Kittle sidelined in Week 11 due to an injury, the San Francisco 49ers needed one of their playmakers to step up. On Sunday against the Seattle Seahawks, Jauan Jennings took over.

Whenever Brock Purdy and thee 49ers offense needed a spark, Jennings came through. After piling up big numbers against the Seahawks, the former Tennesee Volunteer added to his impressive performance with a touchdown grab in the fourth quarter to give the 49ers the lead.

With the 49ers trailing by three points, Purdy found Jennings in the end zone for a touchdown to take the lead, 17-13.

Via @49ers on Twitter:

Jennings has notched a game-high 10 receptions for 91 yards and a touchdown against the Seahawks.

This post originally appeared on Niners Wire! Follow us on Facebook and Twitter!

49ers injury update: George Kittle inactive vs. Seahawks

No George Kittle for the 49ers today.

The San Francisco 49ers have officially ruled out tight end George Kittle for Sunday’s game against the Seattle Seahawks.

Kittle suffered a hamstring injury in Week 10 that head coach Kyle Shanahan didn’t seem concerned about when he spoke with media Monday. Shanahan said Kittle would miss Wednesday’s practice as part of the management of that injury. Kittle returned to action Thursday and Friday, but isn’t able to play Sunday.

His absence will be welcome news for the Seahawks after he got them for a pair of touchdowns in the 49ers’ win over Seattle back in Week 6.

Here are the 49ers Week 11 inactives:

QB Josh Dobbs (QB3)
CB Charvarius Ward (Personal)
TE George Kittle (hamstring)
DL Kevin Givens (groin)
OL Ben Bartch
DL Khalil Davis
WR Ronnie Bell

Not among the inactives are defensive end Nick Bosa and left tackle Trent Williams. Bosa is working through a hip injury, while Williams missed the entire week of practice because of an ankle issue.

Bosa told reporters his hip injury bothered him a lot in the team’s Week 10 victory in Tampa Bay. He had a light week of practice that allowed him to be ready for Sunday. Don’t be surprised if he winds up on a shorter rotation than normal while he manages his injury.

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New 49ers Week 11 practice report features more bad news than good

Woof … Thursday’s practice report isn’t great.

The San Francisco 49ers are teetering on the brink of potential disaster on the injury front as they prepare for their Week 11 showdown against the Seattle Seahawks.

Thursday’s practice participation report was even more crowded than Wednesday’s, and it featured more bad news than good.

The good news is that tight end George Kittle returned to action after missing Wednesday’s session. He was limited Thursday, as anticipated by head coach Kyle Shanahan who told reporters he wasn’t too worried about Kittle’s status for Sunday.

In some less-than-good news, left tackle Trent Williams was absent again with an ankle issue. Wide receiver Jauan Jennings also showed up as a limited participant with an ankle injury.

Williams was classified as a non-participant for rest Wednesday, but he also had an ankle injury listed. That ankle kept him out of another practice Thursday, putting his status for Sunday in doubt. If he can’t go, Jaylon Moore would be next in line to step in at left tackle. This will be worth monitoring closely.

Jennings wasn’t on the Wednesday report which makes his appearance Thursday even more concerning. It’s unclear the severity of the issue and when he sustained the injury. Shanahan will speak with reporters Friday and give a better idea of what the 49ers’ leading wide receiver is dealing with.

Defensive end Nick Bosa remained out of practice with a hip injury. He intimated to reporters Wednesday that he’d likely miss the entire week in hopes of getting ready to play Sunday. He’s also a question mark for Sunday in a key matchup with the Seahawks.

Here’s the full Thursday participation report:

Did not participate

DE Nick Bosa (hip)
DT Kevin Givens (groin)
LT Trent Williams (ankle)
P Mitch Wishnowsky (back)
CB Charvarius Ward (not injury related – personal matter)

Limited participation

TE George Kittle (hamstring)
WR Chris Conley (back)
C Jon Feliciano (knee)
WR Jauan Jennings (ankle)
RB Christian McCaffrey (Achilles)

Full participation

CB Renardo Green (toe)
DE Yetur Gross-Matos (knee)

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