Tag: jauan jennings

Jauan Jennings deserves all of his flowers and probably more

Jauan Jennings.

This post isn’t for most 49ers fans.

Most 49ers fans are acutely aware of wide receiver Jauan Jennings and the impact he has on the field whether it’s inside or outside the stat sheet.

Most non-49ers fans (who aren’t Tennessee Volunteers fans) are probably much less aware of Jennings’ impact, which is why his selection as the 49ers’ most under-appreciated player in a list by NFL media’s Tom Blair makes a ton of sense.

In the 21st century a player’s claim to nationwide fame in the NFL is almost directly tied to their fantasy football impact. That’s why someone like Jennings, who has 78 catches for 963 yards and seven touchdowns in his career, doesn’t reach that ‘household name’ status the way someone like Justin Jefferson has.

Still, his value on the stat sheet shows even in those 78 receptions. Of his 78 career catches, 50 (!) of them (64 percent) have gone for either a first down or a touchdown. His ‘Third-and-Jauan’ nickname works thanks to his reliability on contested catches and his tenacity after the catch. He singlehandedly creates first downs on plays most No. 3 WRs wouldn’t.

Then there’s the value he brings as a big-bodied run blocker. His size and willingness to stick his nose in as a blocker gives head coach Kyle Shanahan a ton of options with how he can use Jennings in formations and pre-snap motion. And Jennings flat out produces as a run blocker.

Pro Football Focus had Jennings down for the third-best run blocking grade among WRs with at least 140 run blocking snaps last season. He was fourth in the NFL in that category in 2021.

It gives the 49ers’ offense, which rarely operates out of three-WR sets, added flexibility with how they run and pass out of those formations.

Replacing Jennings from a sheer stat-sheet production standpoint wouldn’t be difficult. Replacing him as a blocker and chain-mover would be much harder. It’s why the 49ers worked hard to get him extended beyond a one-year restricted free agent tender, and wound up getting him on a two-year extension worth up to $15.4 million with $10.5 million guaranteed. They’re aware of Jennings’ impact, and it matters a ton for their offense even if Jennings isn’t a household name.

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The Xs and Os with Greg Cosell: Why defensive tackles matter more than ever

Why are defensive tackles more important in today’s NFL than they’ve ever been before? Greg Cosell and Doug Farrar are here with the answers.

In today’s NFL, with as much quick game as teams are using, it’s more important than ever to get to the quarterback as quickly as possible. Often, the shortest distance between the line of scrimmage and the quarterback is a straight line, and when your edge-rushers don’t have time to get home, it’s up to your interior defensive linemen to make those sacks and pressures happen.

It’s why the NFL has placed an increasing importance on those inside guys, and the money has gone up accordingly.

In 2019, there were 15 interior defensive linemen with in-season cap hits of more than $10 million, led by Aaron Donald at $17,108,000. In 2024, there are 22 such players. Now, a lot of those contracts are ones in which the cap hit happens to explode in this league year, but the point still stands – the NFL is placing an increased financial priority on interior defensive linemen. 

It’s also why NFL is paying more centers and guards more money and selecting more higher in the draft, as well.

In this week’s “Xs and Os with Greg Cosell and Doug Farrar,” the guys get into all the reasons why interior defensive linemen are of such crucial importance, the techniques they use to pester enemy quarterbacks, and the best players at creating pressure in the shortest possible time.

You can watch this week’s “Xs and Os” right here:

You can also listen to and subscribe to the “Xs and Os” podcast on Spotify…

…and on Apple Podcasts.

Extending Jauan Jennings was right move for 49ers

The 49ers did the right thing extending Jauan Jennings through the 2025 season.

The 49ers and wide receiver Jauan Jennings agreed to a contract extension that will keep the 2020 seventh-round pick in San Francisco through the 2025 season.

This was a good medium for the 49ers and Jennings where San Francisco wanted to lock in their No. 3 WR for more than one year, while Jennings didn’t want to take a deal that would potentially cost him money in the long-term.

A two-year deal gives Jennings room to operate as the WR3 for the next couple years with a chance for a higher target share depending on how things shake out in the receiving corps. An uptick in production would make him more valuable in the free agent market as a 28-year-old in the 2026 offseason.

Meanwhile the 49ers get to keep a sure thing in their uncertain receiving corps. Brandon Aiyuk isn’t under contract beyond 2024 and it’s unclear what Deebo Samuel’s future with the team is. Ricky Pearsall and Jacob Cowing, both 2024 draft picks, should factor in somewhere in the next couple seasons, but neither player offers the skill set Jennings has. He’s a big, tenacious run blocker who has become a big-time playmaker on third down for San Francisco.

It’s not that Jennings is irreplaceable, but not having him would change the way the 49ers offense can run out of three-plus WR sets.

Getting him at $10.5 million guaranteed over the next two years is probably right about what he would’ve received on the open market this year as a restricted free agent, and it doesn’t break the bank for San Francisco in a way that will tie their hands when it comes to Aiyuk’s extension.

Jennings’ production won’t ever jump off the page, but anyone who follows the 49ers closely knows how valuable he is. Keeping him at least for the next two seasons was a no-brainer move for the 49ers.

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49ers sign WR Jauan Jennings to 1-year contract extension to keep him through 2025

Jauan Jennings will be with the 49ers for at least two more years.

Wide receiver Jauan Jennings will be with the 49ers through the 2025 season the team announced Wednesday. ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported the deal is worth up to $15.4 million with $10.5 million guaranteed.

Jennings was given a one-year restricted free agent tender to ensure he’d stay with the club for the 2024 season. Now he’s added an additional one year to keep him in San Francisco for at least two more seasons after not signing his RFA tender.

It makes sense the club would want to keep Jennings around given some of the flux their receiving corps is in. He figures to be a key player for them as a third WR who is a third-down threat, red-zone weapon and dynamic run blocker. While his role could get cut down some with the arrival of Ricky Pearsall in 2024, there’s a chance it expands again in the 2025 season when the club is likely to undergo some changes in their WR room.

Jennings, a seventh-round pick in the 2020 draft, didn’t have an impact in Year 1. He was on the practice squad and then suffered an injury that prevented him from coming up to the active roster late in the year.

In 2021 though he came on strong as a reliable third-down option who added a nastiness to their run blocking that the receiving corps previously lacked. Since 2021 he’s been a staple third WR in their offense, racking up 78 catches for 963 yards and seven touchdowns.

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Rookie WR Ricky Pearsall can benefit from Brandon Aiyuk, Jauan Jennings OTA absences

While Brandon Aiyuk and Jauan Jennings are absent from OTAs, Ricky Pearsall has a chance for valuable reps.

Two of the notable absences from the 49ers’ Tuesday OTA session were wide receivers Brandon Aiyuk and Jauan Jennings. Both players are aiming for long-term extensions this offseason which presumably plays into why they weren’t in attendance for the voluntary session.

While head coach Kyle Shanahan told reporters he doesn’t make much of absences from the voluntary portion of the offseason program, he did note that rookie WR Ricky Pearsall could benefit from two of the team’s top three receivers missing practice.

“Yeah, I always think the more reps you get, the more experience you get, the more different situations you can be put in,” Shanahan said in a press conference Tuesday. “I mean, if you’re talented enough and made of the right stuff, you only get better. But sometimes it’s hard to generate those things, especially in a practice when it’s not full speed all the time and things like that. So the more reps you can get of it, always helps the right type of player.”

It’s clear there are limits to how much Pearsall (or any rookie for that matter) can benefit from OTAs since they don’t have pads on and aren’t hitting, but more reps are undoubtedly helpful for a first-year player looking to learn the offense and build a rapport with the quarterback.

There won’t be a real chance for Pearsall to climb into a top-two spot on the WR depth chart this year. He could definitely be in the mix for WR3 snaps though, and these early offseason reps will only help his ability to take advantage of the opportunities that arise later in the year.

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WR is most improved position group on 49ers roster

It’s pretty clear which offensive position group improved the most for the 49ers this offseason, although the bar to clear was not high.

The 49ers’ offense is in an interesting spot heading into the 2024 season. They’re returning virtually all of their starters on that side of the ball from 2023, but they had a couple of glaring weaknesses on their depth chart that didn’t get addressed as much as they might’ve liked in the offseason. Ideally San Francisco would’ve dramatically improved its offensive line or its tight end room in free agency and the draft, but instead its their receiving corps that looks like the most improved offensive group on the roster.

It’s easy to find the starters at receiver since Brandon Aiyuk and Deebo Samuel are both returning. They’ll be the team’s top two options again. In 2024 there should be some dramatically improved depth though.

Jauan Jennings figures to be the third WR again, particularly since he’s such an effective blocker in the run game. This year though there could be some legitimate competition for snaps for Jennings though after a couple years of nobody really emerging as a credible offensive threat behind him at receiver.

The 49ers used the No. 31 overall pick to select WR Ricky Pearsall from Florida, and then they went back to the WR well with the final pick in the fourth round to take WR Jacob Cowing from Arizona.

While leaning on two rookies to help improve the receiving corps would typically come with some sizable question marks, it’s worth noting the bar for production isn’t high.

Five 49ers WRs outside of Aiyuk and Samuel caught passes last year. They combined for 42 catches, 551 yards and four touchdowns.

There’s a chance that even in a low-volume passing offense we see Pearsall eclipse the combined numbers by himself. He and Cowing together should certainly surpass them.

There’s always a chance the 49ers whiff on both picks and neither player is effective in the NFL, which would leave their receiving corps in a similar spot it was in last season when Ray-Ray McCloud, Ronnie Bell and Chris Conley were seeing targets.

On paper for now though the receiving corps is dramatically improved from last season, and that’ll continue to be true even if just one of their two draft picks pans out.

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Don’t bet on the Saints signing Jauan Jennings after 49ers use RFA render

It looks like Jauan Jennings will not be headed to New Orleans. If the Saints signed him, they’d have to trade a second-round pick back to San Francisco:

The New Orleans Saints shouldn’t be expected to sign San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Jauan Jennings after the team used a restricted free agent tender on him. San Francisco announced Monday that it had placed a second-round tender on the wideout, carrying a salary of $4.89 million. The 49ers reserve the right to match any offer Jennings receives from outside organizations.

If the team elects not to match the offer extended (from a team like the Saints), the acquiring team will have to send a second-round pick to San Francisco in return for Jennings. So if New Orleans made an offer the 49ers couldn’t match, the Saints would have to give up the No. 45 overall pick in this year’s draft.

It looks like Jennings will be staying in San Francisco, and it’s clear that it is going to come with a heavy price tag for the squad that picks him up if he is to depart. That’s fitting for the sheer amount of talent he brings to the table, as Jennings would have been named the MVP of the Super Bowl if the 49ers had managed to bring down the Kansas City Chiefs in overtime, where they came up just painfully short.

Jennings’ numbers don’t necessarily reflect the quality of the tape, as he has served as a quality blocker and highly versatile prospect all around. He closed out the 2023 season with 19 receptions for 265 yards with a touchdown. Over three seasons in San Francisco, he totaled 78 catches for 963 yards with 7 touchdowns to his name,

It will be interesting to see how things shake out as the 49ers are clearly making a strong effort to keep him on their roster moving into 2024. If things don’t work out long-term with Brandon Aiyuk then retaining Jennings becomes even more important.

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49ers tender one-year contract to restricted free agent WR Jauan Jennings

Jauan Jennings recorded 19 receptions for 265 yards and a touchdown during the regular season with the 49ers in 2023.

After reportedly signing veteran edge rusher Leonard Floyd to a contract, the San Francisco 49ers turned its attention to one of their own. On Monday afternoon, the 49ers announced they had tendered a one-year contract to restricted free agent pass catcher Jauan Jennings.

Via @49ers on Twitter:

According to Matt Maiocco of NBC Sports Bay Area, the 49ers tendered Jennings at the second-round level and he will now be set to make $4.89 million for the upcoming season.

While the 49ers will still have the chance to negotiate a multi-year deal with Jennings, any other team that attempts to sign Jennings will have to send the 49ers a second-round draft pick if they don’t match the offer.

Jennings has spent three seasons with the 49ers since landing in Santa Clara out of Tennessee from the seventh round of the 2020 NFL Draft. Last season, Jennings recorded 19 receptions for 265 yards and a touchdown during the regular season. Jennings broke out in the Super Bowl, catching four passes for 42 yards and a touchdown reception, along with passing a touchdown.

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

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Here’s what 49ers may have to pay restricted free agent WR Jauan Jennings

Here are the #49ers options with restricted free agent WR Jauan Jennings, and how much it’ll cost:

The NFL on Friday announced the official salary cap number for the 2024 season, and with it the dollar amounts for the various restricted free agent tenders.

Restricted free agency is for players who’ve only accrued three seasons entering the free agent market. For the 49ers only one player, wide receiver Jauan Jennings, fits that description this offseason.

In restricted free agency teams have a handful of RFA tenders they can place on a player before he is allowed to test the free agent waters. Those tenders are full-guaranteed one-year deals. Here’s a rundown of each of the options San Francisco can explore with Jennings, and how much it would cost:

Would-be Super Bowl MVP Jauan Jennings could be perfect fit for Saints

Would-be Super Bowl MVP Jauan Jennings could be a perfect fit for Saints. His do-it-all performance in the 49ers’ loss adds to an intriguing resume:

Wide receiver may not be near the top of the New Orleans Saints’ to-do list for many fans, but it should be. The team only has three receivers under contract for the 2024 season after they brought 13 wideouts into training camp last summer — and the expected re-signing of Rashid Shaheed with the release of Michael Thomas won’t change that number. They’re going to add some receivers in free agency.

And Jauan Jennings has put together an impressive resume. The Saints are hiring one of his coaches as their new offensive coordinator — San Francisco 49ers passing game specialist Klint Kubiak, in case you missed it — and Jennings should be an option in free agency. He’s one of 10 49ers free agents we highlighted as potential Saints targets. And his performance in Super Bowl LVIII was the most compelling argument yet for getting him in a black and gold jersey.

It would have been very tough for the 49ers to not name Jennings the Super Bowl MVP had they won the game. He was exemplary as a blocker, again, which has been his bread and butter through three years in San Francisco. But on top of that, Jennings was effective as a receiver when his number was called. He was targeted four times and he caught all four passes for 42 yards and a critical touchdown to force overtime. He was also a key figure in one of the game’s most exciting plays: lobbing a trick pass to Christian McCaffrey for the first touchdown of the day.

Jennings does so many things well that the Saints have valued highly. But we’ll start with his blocking. Guys like Tre’Quan Smith stuck around in New Orleans for years because of their ability to fight and sustain blocks to create opportunities for their teammates. Last year, the Saints asked veterans like Keith Kirkwood and Lynn Bowden Jr. to handle that duty, and while they had some success it made the offense too predictable. Neither of them could do enough as receivers to disguise the offense’s intent when they hit the field.

That isn’t as much a concern with Jennings. His numbers are modest — he’s averaged about 394 receiving yards per year with the 49ers — but that’s more than Kirkwood, Bowden, and A.T. Perry combined for last season in New Orleans. If he can step into the lineup as the team’s third or fourth receiver (depending on how many steps forward Perry can take in his second season), the offense would improve. Having someone with his experience who knows the system that Kubiak will be installing inside and is valuable in itself.

So it’s that simple, right? Jennings is a great scheme fit and upgrade over the players the Saints already have, so they should sign him, right? Not so fast. Jennings is going into the 2024 offseason with restricted free agent status. That means the 49ers will have some options in re-signing him. Restricted free agents may be issued a tender by their current team that brings the team a right of first refusal to any other contract offers. If they pay more, the 49ers could demand compensation by letting Jennings go, which would remove him as an option for teams like the Saints.

These tender amounts increase with the salary cap. While we don’t know how much the cap is going to rise in 2024, Over The Cap has projected values for the three levels of restricted free agent tenders:

  • Right of first refusal: $2,828,000
  • Second-round draft pick compensation: $4,633,000
  • First-round draft pick compensation: $6,464,000

Both the Saints and the 49ers have some work to do in getting under the salary cap, though New Orleans is obviously deeper in the red (by about $80 million) than San Francisco (just $3 million), per Over The Cap’s estimates. But the 49ers have more work to do in keeping their team together: key starters like cornerbacks Deommodore Lenoir and Charvarius Ward are entering contract years, as are linebacker Dre Greenlaw, wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk, safety Talanoa Hufanga, and defensive tackle Arik Armstead. Committing too much money to their third receiver could cost them later; the 49ers have to be planning on signing some of those players to early extensions.

So it’s reasonable to think Jennings will reach free agency and have the opportunity to hear offers from other teams. And the Saints should be one of his first callers. His presence would add a lot to the receiving corps and make the offense less predictable. It makes too much sense for them to pursue him. But we’ll have to wait and see whether the 49ers make a strong effort to keep him in San Francisco.

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