49ers may have to put aside contract anxiety to keep tone-setting star WR

To paraphrase Bernie Sanders, I am once again asking you to consider letting the San Francisco 49ers pay a wide receiver.

Look, I get it. Who the hell wants to add a third big wide receiver contract to the Niners docket, particularly when one ended in a trade (Deebo Samuel, with his extra poundage, to the Washington Commanders), and one's ended in the player ending up in the Twilight Zone (who the hell knows what's happening to Brandon Aiyuk?).

However, after the Niners' Sunday win over the Tennessee Titans, I'm afraid I have to stump for at least one more, and that's erstwhile do-it-all, grit-and-grind specialist Jauan Jennings.

It's been a difficult year for Jennings, however; he started the season trying to maximise the leverage that Aiyuk's injury had given him into a new contract, but when San Francisco refused, Jennings basically found himself without needed practice time and very little to show for it. Even a very late-in-the-day conversion of money from possible to guaranteed felt like something of a pyrrhic victory.

That feeling continued when he started his season rusty and injured, as well as claiming to be playing through several broken ribs, Jennings suffered with an ankle injury that seemed to slow him. It seems comical now, but Kendrick Bourne was probably ahead of him in both the team and fans' affections as late as October, particularly as backup quarterback Mac Jones battled manfully to keep the 49ers' season afloat.

That's turned on its head lately, though, with Jennings finding a way to score six touchdowns in his last six games. And while his yardage totals remain low, he still seems to be quarterback Brock Purdy's go-to man in clutch situations, with good reason.

I've always been a Jennings fan, ever since he battled his way onto the Niners roster in his second season. He found an early habit of making clutch catches late in one of my favourite recent 49ers seasons, 2021, and has continued that ever since, pointing his arrow upward. My respect for him only grew last year, when in the midst of a terrible season, he outplayed a sulking-and-then-injured Aiyuk, to the point where it should've been embarrassing for the supposed No. 1 wide receiver.

Jennings is a tenacious run-blocker and world-class trash talker, frequently setting the tone for the offense and often driving opponents to distraction, particularly recently when he drove the Cleveland Browns' defensive tackle, Shelby Harris, to lose his mind entirely:

That's Jennings.

He never knowingly takes a backward step, and he fights and claws for everything. He should be an inspiration to every San Francisco player near the bottom of the roster, and he's certainly a fan favorite.

I share the misgivings about his demands. He was apparently looking for top receiver money in the summer, something the 49ers couldn't obviously stretch to given the megadeals already given out to Aiyuk and Samuel, as well as finally reaching extensions with both Purdy and tight end George Kittle.

But Samuel is gone now, and Aiyuk looks set to depart over the horizon as well, leaving Jennings as probably the Niners' best pure receiver. Ricky Pearsall is excellent and improving, but he's also having some trouble with his knee and has yet to consistently put together a run of great play.

Moreover, there's something Jennings gives San Francisco that almost no one else does, especially since Deebo's departure: a bit of nastiness. The offense is a terrific, well-oiled machine of football class, particularly when Purdy and head coach Kyle Shanahan are operating at the top of their game, but you need just a little bit of an edge to take you over the top. Players like Samuel provided it, while the current incarnation of the roster probably looks to no-nonsense, lunch-pail types like fullback Kyle Juszczyk to deliver the grit.

Jennings has that in spades, and then some, and with Juszczyk winding down his career (and having already taken one excursion off the roster this year), keeping the wideout could well keep the 49ers' sense of identity intact.

"Third and Jauan" also doesn't seem the type to lose motivation or desire if paid a large sum of money, unlike Samuel, who's weight fluctuated. Or Aiyuk, who has been more prolific in whining on social media than on the field almost from the second the ink dried on his deal. Jennings has been an underdog almost everywhere, and there's no reason to believe he'd stop himself from continuing to progress and trying to become one of the best in the league if he was remunerated more generously.

Given prior situations, and the Niners' high-wire act with the salary cap, I don't envy the decision Shanahan and general manager John Lynch have to make, but if it was up to me, I'd just risk putting that trauma of big receiver contracts behind us, and reach into that pocket one more time.

Jennings earned it, arguably more than the previous two did.