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The True Pecking Order of the 49ers Wide Receiver Room

Based on salary alone, the pecking order of the 49ers' wide receiver room should be cut-and-dry.

Grant Cohn

Sep 29, 2024; Santa Clara, California, USA; San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Jauan Jennings (15) celebrates after a catch during the third quarter against the New England Patriots 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) celebrates after a catch during the third quarter against the New England Patriots at Levi's Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Sergio Estrada-Imagn Images / Sergio Estrada-Imagn Images
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Based on salary alone, the pecking order of the 49ers' wide receiver room should be cut-and-dry.

Brandon Aiyuk is the highest-paid wide receiver on the 49ers -- they pay him $30 million per season. He should be the no. 1 option.

Deebo Samuel is the second-highest-paid wide receiver on the 49ers -- they pay him $24 million per season. He should be the no. 2 option.

And Jauan Jennings is the third-highest-paid wide receiver on the 49ers -- they pay him less than $8 million per season. He should be the no. 3 option.

But through three games this season, the no. 1 option unquestionably has been Jennings.

He still plays less than Aiyuk and Samuel. When they're healthy, they tend to play roughly 80 percent of the offensive snaps while Jennings plays roughly 55 percent of them. And yet he still leads the team in targets, catches, receiving yards and touchdowns. He's having a Pro Bowl season and forcing his way into the starting lineup.

Meanwhile, Deebo Samuel has no touchdown catches and is averaging a career-worst 4.2 yards after catch per reception. He's clearly the second-best receiver on the team after Jennings.

And then there's the $30 million man, Aiyuk. He's simply not producing. Brock Purdy's passer rating when targeting him this season is a grotesque 56.6. The 49ers are forcing him the ball to justify his outrageous contract.

They need to just accept that Aiyuk is the most expensive no. 3 receiver in the history of the NFL and move on.

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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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