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49ers WR Jauan Jennings is the 15th-Highest-Graded WR in the NFL per PFF

The most improved player on the 49ers in 2024 was Jauan Jennings.

Grant Cohn

Jan 5, 2025; Glendale, Arizona, USA; San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Jauan Jennings (15) reacts in the first half prior to being ejected from the game against the Arizona Cardinals at State Farm Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Matt Kartozian-Imagn Images
Jan 5, 2025; Glendale, Arizona, USA; San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Jauan Jennings (15) reacts in the first half prior to being ejected from the game against the Arizona Cardinals at State Farm Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Matt Kartozian-Imagn Images / Matt Kartozian-Imagn Images
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The most improved player on the 49ers in 2024 was Jauan Jennings.

In 2023, he caught just 19 passes -- he was an afterthought on an offense that was loaded with premium talent. But in the Super Bowl, he was the 49ers' best offensive skill player. And this season, he became a starter when Brandon Aiyuk went down with a brutal knee injury in Week 7. And now, Jennings is coming off a season in which he was the 15th-highest-graded wide receiver in the league according to Pro Football Focus.

"Jennings was targeted 10 times in the first half and caught seven passes for 52 yards against the Cardinals in Week 18," writes PFF analyst Lauren Gray. "He notched three catches of 10-plus yards and averaged 3.47 yards per route run. Jennings was ejected in the second quarter after back-to-back scuffles, finishing his season with 77 catches for 975 yards. It was a breakout season for the fifth-year wideout, as he posted career-highs in targets (111) and threat rate (25.7%). Jennings caught six touchdown passes, gained 47 first downs and recorded 21 catches of 15-plus yards. He ranked fourth in adjusted target rate from the slot (34.9%), hauling in 38 passes for 20 first downs and five touchdowns and finishing eighth in PFF receiving grade from the alignment (80.9)."

Even though Jennings replaced Aiyuk as the starting X receiver, Jennings' position remains in the slot. The 49ers would be smart to use more three-receiver formations next season to ensure their best players stay on the field.

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Grant Cohn
GRANT COHN

Grant Cohn has covered the San Francisco 49ers daily since 2011. He spent the first nine years of his career with the Santa Rosa Press Democrat where he wrote the Inside the 49ers blog and covered famous coaches and athletes such as Jim Harbaugh, Colin Kaepernick and Patrick Willis. In 2012, Inside the 49ers won Sports Blog of the Year from the Peninsula Press Club. In 2020, Cohn joined FanNation and began writing All49ers. In addition, he created a YouTube channel which has become the go-to place on YouTube to consume 49ers content. Cohn's channel typically generates roughly 3.5 million viewers per month, while the 49ers' official YouTube channel generates roughly 1.5 million viewers per month. Cohn live streams almost every day and posts videos hourly during the football season. Cohn is committed to asking the questions that 49ers fans want answered, and providing the most honest and interactive coverage in the country. His loyalty is to the reader and the viewer, not the team or any player or coach. Cohn is a new-age multimedia journalist with an old-school mentality, because his father is Lowell Cohn, the legendary sports columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle from 1979 to 1993. The two have a live podcast every Tuesday. Grant Cohn grew up in Oakland and studied English Literature at UCLA from 2006 to 2010. He currently lives in Oakland with his wife.

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