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Pro Football Focus: Jauan Jennings is 49ers' Most Underrated Player

Look for Jennings to lead the 49ers in targets again this season.

Grant Cohn

Dec 30, 2024; Santa Clara, California, USA; San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Jauan Jennings (15) during the game against the Detroit Lions at Levi's Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Sergio Estrada-Imagn Images
Dec 30, 2024; Santa Clara, California, USA; San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Jauan Jennings (15) during the game against the Detroit Lions at Levi's Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Sergio Estrada-Imagn Images / Sergio Estrada-Imagn Images
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Jauan Jennings doesn't get enough respect.

He's one of the slowest wide receivers in the league, so people don't take him seriously as a No. 1 wide receiver. But he undoubtedly was the 49ers' No. 1 receiver last season. He led the entire team in targets with 113. No one else had more than 94.

Jennings isn't fast or explosive, but he's one of the best possession receivers in the league plus he's an elite blocker as well. That's why Pro Football Focus says he's the 49ers' most underrated player.

"Jennings came into the 2024 season facing a crowded depth chart in San Francisco, between Brandon Aiyuk, Deebo Samuel and even 2024 first-round pick Ricky Pearsall, not to mention the added target competition of George Kittle and Christian McCaffrey," writes PFF's Jonathon Macri.

"Despite all odds, Jennings established himself as a top option on offense, ranking in the top 20 in PFF receiving grade (83.7), receptions (77) and yards per route run (2.26) in the regular season among qualifying wide receivers. Thanks to his most recent season, the former seventh-round pick is now in a prime spot to continue his stellar play in 2025."

Jennings is a great fit with Brock Purdy because Purdy doesn't have a big arm. He doesn't need a true deep-threat receiver. He needs a receiver who can make contested catches 10 to 20 yards downfield, and that's Jennings. Purdy can throw the ball blindly to him and have confidence that he will come down with it. Remember, Purdy said this offseason that he throws blindly 40 percent of the time.

Look for Jennings to lead the 49ers in targets again this season.

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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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