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Jauan Jennings has been the 49ers' Best Receiver Since January

Jauan Jennings' agent messed up.

Grant Cohn

Sep 29, 2024; Santa Clara, California, USA; San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Jauan Jennings (15) stretches out for a catch against New England Patriots cornerback Marcus Jones (25) during the fourth quarter at Levi's Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Sergio Estrada-Imagn Images
Sep 29, 2024; Santa Clara, California, USA; San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Jauan Jennings (15) stretches out for a catch against New England Patriots cornerback Marcus Jones (25) during the fourth quarter at Levi's Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Sergio Estrada-Imagn Images / Sergio Estrada-Imagn Images
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SANTA CLARA -- Jauan Jennings' agent messed up.

This offseason, Jennings signed a two-year, $15 million extension with the 49ers. At the time it was a significant raise for Jennings, a former seventh-round pick. But he would have made so much more money had he waited a year before signing a new deal.

Through four games, Jennings is the leading receiver on the 49ers and the fourth-leading receiver in the NFL. He's outproducing players who are earning more than $30 million per season.

And this trend started last season. Since the playoffs started in January, Jennings has been the 49ers' most productive and most efficient receiver. Check out these stats from the 49ers' past 7 games including the postseason.

Jauan Jennings: 31 catches, 475 receiving yards, 4 touchdown catches.

Deebo Samuel: 29 catches, 368 receiving yards, 0 touchdown catches (missed one game).

George Kittle: 23 catches, 273 receiving yards, 3 touchdown catches (missed one game).

Brandon Aiyuk: 22 catches, 316 receiving yards, 1 touchdown catch.

Jennings has been the 49ers' no. 1 option for almost a full calendar year. And he plays significantly less than the other three receivers, which makes his production even more impressive. Through four games this season, Jennings has played just 61 percent of the 49ers' offensive snaps while Aiyuk has played 76 percent and Samuel has played 79 percent.

Those percentages reflect those wide receivers' salaries, not their abilities. Because based purely on merit, Jennings should play more snaps than those two overpaid wide receivers.

He should make more money than them, too.

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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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