San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Jauan Jennings has just issued an ultimatum to the team, saying that he wants a new deal ahead of training camp or he is going to request a trade. Just when it seemed the drama was over...
This situation was brewing as our own Peter Panacy predicted that extension drama could be in the cards for Jennings and the Niners.
San Francisco fans are all too familiar with this sort of contract drama. Back in the 2021 offseason, Deebo Samuel employed a similar strategy after his All-Pro season and was rewarded with a hefty contract.
Then, last season, history repeated itself as Brandon Aiyuk created all sorts of drama by requesting a trade amid contract extension talks. Jennings was not around for the Deebo drama, but you can bet he took notes last season especially since Aiyuk ended up getting a big pay day.
In both of those cases, San Francisco relented and ended up paying both players quite a lot of money. But, we know the front office has seemingly grown tired of being pushed around by its players the way they were with Samuel and Aiyuk.
Now, we are going to have to see how they respond to Jennings' demands.
He is certainly worth more than the two-year, $15.39 million extension he signed last offseason, based on his breakout 2024 season in which he established himself as the team's top receiver.
In 2024, Jennings had 77 receptions for 975 yards and six touchdowns. He stepped up in a big way with Aiyuk going down with a knee injury in the middle of the season and Samuel looking like a shell of his former shelf.
Jennings is also in a good negotiating position given the current state of the team's wide receiver room. Aiyuk is still on the mend from that knee injury, and while he could be back by Week 1, that still seems a bit optimistic.
Demarcus Robinson could face a suspension after a DUI and Ricky Pearsall was banged up at OTAs. That is a lot of question marks to have in your wide receiver room, and now Jennings can be added to that list of question marks.
One hopes this dispute is not as overly wrought and contentious as it was with Aiyuk. While the Niners do not want to get pushed around by their players, they may have no other choice than to give Jennings a big contract extension like they did with Aiyuk.
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