Former Tennessee Vols wide receiver Jauan Jennings helped his free agent case in Super Bowl LVIII
Former Tennessee Volunteers wide receiver Jauan Jennings made the most of his opportunity on football's biggest stage during Super Bowl LVIII with the San Francisco 49ers. Before the late heroics of Patrick Mahomes, Jennings had a realistic shot at winning Super Bowl MVP with a Niners win. Jennings had 4 receptions, 42 receiving yards, and caught […]
Former Tennessee Volunteers wide receiver Jauan Jennings made the most of his opportunity on football's biggest stage during Super Bowl LVIII with the San Francisco 49ers.
Before the late heroics of Patrick Mahomes, Jennings had a realistic shot at winning Super Bowl MVP with a Niners win. Jennings had 4 receptions, 42 receiving yards, and caught one touchdown on Sunday evening. He also had a 21-yard touchdown pass to Christian McCaffrey and was involved in both of San Francisco's offensive scores.
But even though the 49ers fell short in overtime, Jennings is still coming away from the Super Bowl a winner…at least financially. The 26-year-old former Vol made himself a lot of money for his impending free agency.
Restricted Free Agent
Jennings is a restricted free agent this offseason. For those unfamiliar, restricted free agents (RFAs) are players with three seasons played in the league and an expired contract.
Just like your typical unrestricted free agents, RFAs are free to negotiate and sign with any team during free agency. The difference is that an RFAs original team can offer them one of various qualifying offers, or "tenders," that come with the right of first refusal to any contract they sign.
There are four different tenders a team can place on a player who is a restricted free agent. Each one is attached to a different salary and draft pick compensation (the salaries increase every season).
Last offseason, a first-round tender paid a player just over $6 million for the next season. Should the player sign a contract with a different team, their former team would be compensated with a first-round draft pick from the player's new team.
A second-round tender paid $4.3 million in 2023 and teams were compensated with a second-round draft pick from the player's new team if they were signed. An original round tender paid $2.7 million and teams were given a draft pick in the round the player was originally drafted. Then there's the right-of-first-refusal tender, which pays slightly less at $2.6 million, but is not attached to any draft picks.
I fully expect Jennings to be tendered a contract by the 49ers this offseason. He's a valuable player that I'd imagine they'd like to have back. But I do think Jennings may have earned himself a lot of money during the Super Bowl on Sunday.
When handing out tenders to RFAs, teams need to find the perfect balance in getting draft pick value for players they may get offers elsewhere while not overpaying guys by placing top tier tenders on them. The jump between an original-round tender and a second-round tender is significant. But as much as you may not want to cough up the extra $2 million, you also want to get the best pick possible if your player is grabbed by another team.
Jennings, for example, was drafted in the 7th round of the 2020 NFL Draft. If the 49ers give him an original-round tender to save $2 million on his contract, they'll only get a 7th round pick as compensation.
While Jennings doesn't have regular season numbers that jump off the page, he proved how valuable he is during Super Bowl LVIII. He's a really versatile player that can throw touchdown passes, is a capable and willing run-blocker, and clutch enough to lead your receiving corps in catches under the bright lights.
The 49ers probably don't want to let him go, but if Jennings' performance got some other teams interested in him, it can only help his value. A second-round tender would pay him over $4.5 million this offseason after making $940,000 in 2023. Talk about cashing in.
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