Pro Football Rumors
Jauan Jennings‘ short-term future received clarity yesterday. The extension-seeking wideout worked out a compromise with the 49ers by agreeing to incentives covering the 2025 season.
Beyond the coming year, however, it remains to be seen if Jennings will be in the fold for San Francisco. As a pending free agent, the possibility of a departure on the open market looms. It will likely take until next spring to learn Jennings’ fate, but general manager John Lynch made it clear in the wake of the restructure that a long-term commitment is still a team goal.
“We’re going to continue to try to work on a long-term deal, but right now we’ve got something, a solution, that works for everybody for the short term, and that’s a good thing for the Niners,” Lynch said during a Thursday appearance on KNBR (via David Bonilla of 49ers WebZone).
Considering the 49ers’ stance on in-season negotiating, the door is open to a Jennings agreement covering 2026 and beyond coming to fruition. Attention is currently focused on the start of the campaign, of course, and the former seventh-rounder will aim to maximize his incentives regardless of where his future lies. At a minimum, it is well known the 49ers will not look into trading Jennings.
“Some teams do have the policy, once you hit the season, they put all contracts away. That’s not something we’ve done,” Lynch added. We are going to kind of focus on going and beating Seattle right now, but we’ll continue to try to work towards that. We’ve said it many times, we love J.J., we love his presence on this team, and we want to keep him around here for a while.”
Brandon Aiyuk is attached to a $30MM-per-year deal thanks to last year’s extension. Deebo Samuel is no longer in the fold, though, and much of the rest of San Francisco’s receivers are either on rookie contracts (Ricky Pearsall, Jacob Cowing, Jordan Watkins) or short-term veteran accords (like Demarcus Robinson or recent acquisitions Skyy Moore and Marquez Valdes-Scantling). Funds could therefore exist for a Jennings raise on a new, multi-year 49ers pact depending on how negotiations progress.
Jennings, 28, comfortably set a new career high across the boards in terms of production last season, taking on a much larger workload while other wideouts missed time. Another notable role should be in store for 2025; it will be interesting to see a second straight strong season takes place, and if so whether or not a new 49ers commitment will accompany it.
