There has been zero indication the 49ers are going to ship off the wide receiver, but what would you think is decent compensation for Third and Jauan?
The San Francisco 49ers have finally hit their yearly contract drama with the Jauan Jennings trade-or-pay brew-ha-ha going on. It’s important to note that while several teams have inquired about the wide receiver, the 49ers aren’t interested in dealing him.
But it’s a fun exercise when this comes up: What would it take to pry him away? A pick? A package of picks? Players? A combination?
It’s time to play armchair GM.
Teams are kicking the tires on Jennings. Sure, he could be traded; as in teams would be happy to take him and reshuffle their depth chart, but the 49ers don’t seem interested. Should an opportunity arise, there are things to consider.
The first thing we need to keep in mind is $8 million. That’s the estimated cap hit Jennings will cost the 49ers in 2026 when his first void years come up. That stays with the 49ers no matter where he goes or what extension he signs elsewhere.
But for whatever team he goes to, he won’t come close to that for the year. He has 2026 through 2029 as void years to space the money out. If a team takes Jennings, they don’t have to worry about that $8 million. That makes him great for a one-year rental, at least for another team, but the 49ers don’t want money on their books.
A team could also make the trade and get Jennings locked into a long-term extension. Even if they do that, that $8 million still comes from the 49ers.
Here’s an example: wide receiver Brandin Cooks was traded from the Los Angeles Rams to the Houston Texans; the Rams had to eat a $20 million cap hit from Cooks’ contract. That might have factored in the second-round pick they were given from the Texans (to be clear, the Rams also traded a fourth-round pick).
So, if you are a team in the NFL, you have a cheap wide receiver who has shown they can be a No. 1 wide receiver, but the team you are dealing with will be on the hook for $8 million in dead money. The wide receiver is relatively young (28 years old) and can likely secure an extension without issues.
With this in mind, if I’m the NFL and I want to add Jennings, a fourth-rounder would do it. The problem is that it might be too optimistic. Deebo Samuel netted a fifth round pick with the Washington Commanders, and also brought the 49ers way more dead money having a year left on his contract, but he also had a lot more tread on his tires compared to Jennings, and the writing was on the wall about his job when Ricky Pearsall was announced on the first day of the 2024 NFL Draft.
As strange as I’d be with this, I’d take a fifth and change, because a fourth-rounder seems just too rich. It won’t be “just” a fifth-rounder, but that might be the most valuable component.
For the 49ers, yes, it’s an $8 million cap hit, but it’s also a seventh-round pick that they developed. And “develop” is a good word: Jennings played most of his inaugural 2020 season on the practice squad after getting waived during final roster cuts that year. He’s gone from that to being an integral part of the team, where demanding a pay or trade means something. In short, Jennings isn’t just good; he worked his butt off to get there.
Look to other late-rounders or UDFAs like Matt Breida, who netted the 49ers a fifth-round pick. Breida had a lot of injury concerns, and as the 2019 season went on, he became largely invisible once Raheem Mostert began taking over. There is no threat for Jennings’ job security here; everyone else around him got injured. And before that, he got the “Third and Jauan” nickname for a reason. That’s why a single fifth-rounder seems “not enough”.
There’s plenty of interest for Jennings—we know that much. It’s a matter of how things shake out with the 49ers, and he sticks around. If you were John Lynch and an NFL team asked you what it would take to get a seventh-round wide receiver who worked their tail off to be one of the more productive pass-catchers, what would you give up?