Jauan Jennings' new deal makes it easier for 49ers to sign player who will be his training camp competition
The San Francisco 49ers this week ended a contract impasse with Jauan Jennings, signing him to a two-year deal to ensure that quarterback Brock Purdy will have one of his most dependable targets on the roster through the 2025 season. Jennings on Wednesday signed a deal worth $15.4 million, including $10.5 million guaranteed, having previously […]
The San Francisco 49ers this week ended a contract impasse with Jauan Jennings, signing him to a two-year deal to ensure that quarterback Brock Purdy will have one of his most dependable targets on the roster through the 2025 season.
Jennings on Wednesday signed a deal worth $15.4 million, including $10.5 million guaranteed, having previously elected not to sign his second-round restricted free agent tender.
The full details of that contract have now been released, revealing that the deal, which is akin to a one-year extension, will also have an impact in the short term in increasing the 49ers' financial flexibility for 2024.
Had he signed his tender, Jennings would have earned a base salary of $4.89 million. Instead, his cap hit for the 2024 season will be just $2.77 million, creating over $2 million in salary cap space for the Niners to use this year.
They have engineered that additional room through the use of a familiar mechanism. Jennings' deal features $8.435 million in fully guaranteed money, with $6.21 million of that taking the form of a prorated signing bonus. That signing bonus is not simply spread over two years, though. The 49ers have tacked on four additional void years for the proration of Jennings' signing bonus and a $5.605 million option bonus, which is due in the second year of his contract.
The amount of additional cap space may not be huge, but it could be extremely useful for a 49ers team that has a penchant for making aggressive in-season moves in their pursuit of Super Bowl glory.
And, with Arik Armstead's post-June 1 release set to free up an extra $17.8 million in cap space this weekend, Jennings' new contract will give the 49ers a little bit of extra wiggle room to finish the task of signing their class of rookies by inking first-round pick Ricky Pearsall to his contract without compromising their ability to make additional moves down the line.
The irony there is that Pearsall and Jennings will likely head into training camp primed to battle it out for the third wide receiver spot behind Brandon Aiyuk and Deebo Samuel.
Jennings already has an outstanding rapport with Purdy and built a compelling case for a larger role in the passing game in 2024 with an excellent 2023 postseason, which culminated in a Super Bowl 58 performance that would likely have seen him named MVP of the game had the 49ers prevailed in overtime.
Pearsall, though, has already drawn some impressive reviews from OTA practices and brings an ability to beat man coverage that was sorely lacking among the 49ers receivers in that Super Bowl heartbreaker.
In extending Jennings, the 49ers gave him the payday he deserved while also increasing their room for maneuver in the final season before they will need to make a decision on paying Purdy a potentially record-breaking contract.
The only downside for Jennings is that the deal makes it easier for the 49ers to sign his new chief rival for playing time on the roster, but the former seventh-round pick who fought his way to a starring role on the biggest stage is unlikely to be fazed by that additional competition.
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