There has been quite a bit of talk about the San Francisco 49ers soon trading either WR Brandon Aiyuk or WR Deebo Samuel, especially on the heels of the team selecting former Florida WR Ricky Pearsall late in the first round of the 2024 NFL Draft on Thursday night. While Aiyuk and Samuel seem to be huge talking points right now when it comes to potential wide receiver trade targets, the 49ers do have yet another wide receiver that teams such as the Pittsburgh Steelers might covet via a trade: Jauan Jennings.
Jennings was given a second-round restricted free agent tender earlier in the offseason, a move by the 49ers that wasn’t a bit surprising at all. Any lower of a tender and Jennings would have surely received an offer sheet from another team as he was selected in the seventh round of the 2020 NFL Draft out of Tennessee. That second-round tender means that Jennings is now set to earn $4.89 million in 2024.
For his NFL career to date, Jennings has 78 receptions for 963 yards and seven touchdowns. He’s also played third fiddle to Aiyuk and Samuel in San Francisco. Jennings is also a good blocker and thus he would seemingly fit well in the offense that new Steelers offensive coordinator Arthur Smith wants to run in Pittsburgh.
Should the 49ers sign Aiyuk to a very lucrative extension soon and not be able or willing to trade Samuel, it’s hard to imagine them not being willing to part ways with Jennings. It probably wouldn’t take much compensation as well on the heels of them drafting Pearsall Thursday night. Maybe just a fourth-round draft pick.
The 49ers would not incur any dead money by trading Jennings, and they could use the freed-up salary cap space to get Aiyuk signed to a new contract as well. Would they be willing to trade Jennings ahead of getting a new deal done with Aiyuk? That’s maybe the bigger question and the hardest thing to gauge right now when it comes to Jennings’ potential availability.
Jennings fits a need the Steelers have right now and if acquired via a trade, I would imagine it wouldn’t be hard to work out a reasonable contract extension with him.
The Steelers have three selections during Day 2 of the NFL draft on Friday. It’ll be interesting to see if they use one of those picks on a wide receiver. Even if they go that route, a trade for Jennings could still be conceivable. Jauan Jennings is a very good young wide receiver and a lot cheaper than Aiyuk and Samuel to boot.
