Jauan Jennings holdout: 49ers reach agreement with WR to add money to contract

It took three full seasons, but Jennings emerged as a legit weapon for the San Francisco 49ers offense last season. After recording just 963 receiving yards and seven touchdowns over his first three seasons in the NFL (45 games), the former Tennessee Volunteer led the Niners with 975 receiving yards and six touchdowns last year (15 games).

“We keep that (contract) stuff behind the scenes,” 49ers general manager John Lynch said during an appearance on KNBR last week. “But Jauan is a big part of who we are, like I just said. I think if you watch him play, you can see why. I mean, when you’re blocking people and they end up in the Gatorade table, that’s a good thing for us. And he kind of embodies a lot of who we want to be. So we love having JJ around here.”

Jennings will open season as 49ers WR1

Jennings was a three-star recruit coming out of Blackman (Murfreesboro, TN) in the Class of 2015, where he was tabbed the No. 151-ranked player in the country. He committed to Tennessee, where he’d play from 2015-19. As a Volunteer, he hauled in 146 catches for 2,153 yards and 18 touchdowns. No touchdown was more important however than his game-winning touchdown catch in Tennessee‘s 34–31 victory over Georgia in 2016.

Quarterback Josh Dobbs uncorked a 43-yard Hail Mary to the end zone which Jennings came down with, cementing the win for his program. He’d enter the 2020 NFL Draft and was taken with the No. 217 overall pick in the Seventh Round by the 49ers.

Now heading into his fifth NFL season, Jennings is once again the leading receiver for Brock Purdy as Deebo Samuel was traded to the Washington Commanders in the offseason and Brandon Aiyuk opens the season injured. Jennings will be flanked by Ricky Pearsall and Marquez Valdez-Scantling as the Niners look to bounce back from a disappointing 2024 campaign, in which they went 6-11 and missed the playoffs.