This offseason, the San Francisco 49ers made every effort to keep wide receiver Jauan Jennings.
According to sources, the 28-year-old wideout turned down a $17 million yearly deal from the club last year in order to try his luck in free agency.
Having left the Bay Area after signing with the Minnesota Vikings for $13 million earlier this week, Jennings is now appearing to criticize his previous team. Recently, Jennings liked an Instagram post where Colin Cowherd of FS1 criticized the 49ers for being too old and dependent on players who are prone to injuries.
“The San Francisco 49ers are the one schedule that I’m really curious to see how it turns out,” Cowherd stated. “They travel 38,000 miles this year, which is more than any other squad. The Niners, on the other hand, are in a strange position. Perhaps more than any other squad in the league, they depend on older veteran players to keep them in good condition. The other aspect is that they recruited more veteran players, such as Mike Evans and Christian Kirk.
“Additionally, their schedule has gotten significantly harder, moving from the second-easiest in the league. Therefore, if Christian McCaffrey is hurt and the schedule is difficult after that, I can envision the Niners collapsing. In San Francisco, Kyle Shanahan has had four losing seasons despite being a fantastic coach, thus I would argue that it’s old, fragile, and has lead in travel. A 68-year-old insurance salesperson who drinks excessively comes to mind. It doesn’t sound like a Super Bowl winner.
The 49ers contract offer was turned down by Jennings.
The sort of money Jennings was seeking in the free agent market is unknown, but he most likely thought he could earn more than what the 49ers gave him.
Matt Maiocco of NBC Sports Bay Area just stated that Jennings wanted to wager on himself that he could make WR1 money from a different team in the free market.
“The deal was around $17 million each season for the 49ers to sign Jauan Jennings to a multiyear extension before last season, as far as I can tell,” Maiocco said. “I believe Jennings was seeking over $20 million a year. Jauan thought, “I’ll wager on myself and go out there and have a nice season, and get that contact. ” Basically, I believe the 49ers saved $17 million, which they then put into Mike Evans and Christian Kirk.
What brought Jennings to Minnesota?
The $20 million-plus yearly salary Jennings was asking for may not have been totally unrealistic. Spotrac estimated Jennings’ market value at $22. 6 million, which any of the WR-needy teams might have paid him if they hadn’t selected one in the draft.
Prior to the draft, the Tennessee Titans (Carnell Tate), New Orleans Saints (Jordyn Tyson), Philadelphia Eagles (Makai Lemon), Cleveland Browns (KC Concepcion, Denzel Boston), New York Jets (Omar Cooper Jr. ), Pittsburgh Steelers (Germie Bernard), Washington Commanders (Antonio Williams), and New York Giants (Malachi Fields) all required wide receivers and might have been in the mix for Jennings.
Due to the influx of inexperienced WRs, the majority of the market for Jennings was wiped out, leaving the Vikings as one of only a handful of teams that expressed interest in the Tennessee graduate in the days following the draft.
A few days after meeting the squad in person, Jennings signed. Some would contend that, even though he earned less than what San Francisco gave him, he ultimately wound up in a superior position as Minnesota’s WR3, where he catches passes from Kyler Murray behind Justin Jefferson and Jordan Addison.
