49ers Eyeing Potential Reunion After Deebo Samuel Injury

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49ers Eyeing Potential Reunion After Deebo Samuel Injury

Originally posted on Athlon Sports | By Michael Sakuraba | Last updated Oct 13, 2026 7:51 PM ET

Another week, another rash of injuries for the San Francisco 49ers.

Despite the long list of names nursing injuries, the 49ers walked out of Seattle with a convincing victory over the defending Super Bowl Champions and are one of three teams that remain unbeaten through the first five weeks of the NFL season. The cost of last week’s victory was losing star wide receiver Deebo Samuel to a hamstring injury. The 49ers expect Samuel to be sidelined for the next few weeks.

Without Samuel, the 49ers are down to a hobbled Mike Evans, recently signed veteran Brandin Cooks, and second-year receiver Jacob Cowing. San Francisco is already without Rickie Pearsall for the entire season, rookie De’Zhaun Stribling for most of the year, and veterans Demarcus Robinson and Christian Kirk, who are also currently on Injured Reserve.

One NFL insider believes that a reunion with Minnesota Vikings wide receiver Jauan Jennings makes sense for both sides. Jennings, who signed a one-year deal with the Vikings, has seen limited playing time this year. Through four games with Minnesota, Jennings has just two catches on five targets for nine total yards.

From @PatMcAfeeShow: In the wake of the Marvin Harrison Jr trade, another WR whose trade market is expected to heat up is #Vikings WR Jauan Jennings. Would a #49ers reunion make sense? pic.twitter.com/DR6mY1OvYb
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) October 13, 2026

On Tuesday’s Pat McAfee Show, NFL Insider Ian Rapoport named the 49ers as a team to watch when rumors around a trade for Jennings begin to heat up:

“Obviously, he came over from the 49ers. I expect his name to heat up a little bit over the next couple of days and weeks. Obviously, the 49ers lost Deebo for a couple of weeks too, so they make sense.”

Jennings, 29, spent the first five years of his career with the 49ers and thrived under Kyle Shanahan’s system. In 75 games with the 49ers, Jennings caught 210 passes for 2,581 yards and 22 touchdowns. He was a key member of the squad that reached the 2023 Super Bowl, and he both caught and threw a touchdown pass in that game.

Former 49ers WR Jauan Jennings has been having a miserable time with the Vikings through 5 weeks and only has 2 catches all season:

With all the injuries at WR, should the 49ers bring Jennings back via trade pic.twitter.com/eGeZKYTw5g
— OurSF49ers (@OurSf49ers) October 13, 2026

A reunion with Jennings would make sense for the 49ers, who are already making plans for a deep run in the NFL playoffs. Depth at skill positions is always necessary, especially given the injury histories of Evans and Samuel, as well as tight end George Kittle. The asking price would be low in a trade for Jennings, and the 49ers would get an instant boost to the offense from a player who is already comfortable in Shanahan’s system.

This article first appeared on Athlon Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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