Jauan Jennings understandably wanted to cash in on a career-best year in 2024, one in which he led all San Francisco 49ers wide receivers with 975 receiving yards. But, after going through all kinds of tumult with their previous two wideouts demanding extensions, Deebo Samuel and Brandon Aiyuk, the Niners rebuffed Jennings' request for either a lucrative extension or a trade.
Instead, both parties settled on a negotiated contract with incentive-based bonuses, one that'd still make Jennings a free agent in 2026.
San Francisco's decision not to cave is looking more and more brilliant each week.
Through six games played, omitting two missed because of injuries, Jennings has 18 catches for 212 yards and a touchdown, which isn't coming close to eclipsing his 2024 totals. And while playing through ankle, shoulder and ribs injuries has been admirable, one might also argue its hindering his performance.
Regardless if that's the case or not, Jennings isn't having the same kind of impact for the 49ers as he did a year ago. Case in point, the Niners' Week 8 loss to the Houston Texans saw the receiver commit two costly gaffes: a facemask penalty that wiped out a would-be sizable gain, and a dropped ball on a deep third-down attempt by quarterback Mac Jones that could have changed San Francisco's perspective late in the game.
Sure, Jennings helped make up for it later and finished the game with four catches for a team-high 45 yards.
But, the big picture still paints a major win for the 49ers, at least in the contract perspective.
49ers keep winning contract settlement with Jauan Jennings
Jennings will be hard-pressed to earn many of the incentives in his deal, which is unfortunate, seeing how he still is very much an underrated player.
That said, 2025 hasn't been his year in any sense.
Case in point, Jennings' third-down catch rate this season is 56.3. A year ago, when "Third and Jauan" was becoming known to the rest of the NFL world, his third-down catch rate was 73.5.
Even more concerning, the duo of Jones and Brock Purdy might be lacking confidence in throwing to Jennings this season, largely because when they do, bad things tend to happen, as pointed out by the Associated Press' Josh Dubow:
112 players have 25+ targets this season. The 38.0 passer rating for #49ers QBs when targeting Jauan Jennings ranks 110th ahead of only 2 Browns (Isaiah Bond 35.8, Jerry Jeudy 32.7).
Throwing the ball in the dirt every play would be a 39.6 passer rating — Josh Dubow (@JoshDubowAP) October 26, 2025
Granted, Jennings isn't fully to blame for interceptions by Jones or Purdy. And it's hard to bounce back and forth between the two signal-callers, too, in light of their own injuries.
Additionally, Jennings shouldn't be at fault for demanding more money last summer either. After all, he likely understood his value had never been higher. And with bigger-name wide receivers like Brandon Aiyuk and Ricky Pearsall returning from injury, Jennings' own stock value would diminish.
Yet the Niners opted not to give in, and they appear smarter each week for pursuing that route.
