Former Tennessee Vols WR Jauan Jennings came very close to winning the most important award in the NFL
The awards season draws a lot of attention in the NFL, especially with the players. After all, contract escalators often depend on them. Pro Bowl honors. All-Pro honors. Defensive and offensive MVPs. NFL MVPs. However, there's one award that every player in the NFL aspires to achieve: Super Bowl MVP. After all, that means that […]
The awards season draws a lot of attention in the NFL, especially with the players. After all, contract escalators often depend on them. Pro Bowl honors. All-Pro honors. Defensive and offensive MVPs. NFL MVPs.
However, there's one award that every player in the NFL aspires to achieve: Super Bowl MVP. After all, that means that you've reached the top of the football mountain, and you had a heck of the game in getting there.
And oh, how close former Tennessee Vol Jauan Jennings was to pulling it off. The talented wideout as having an incredible game for the San Francisco 49ers in Super Bowl LVIII.
He engineered the Niners' first score of the game in the second quarter with a trick play. Channeling his quarterback days from high school – and at Tennessee – he took a backwards pass and lobbed a ball to Christian McCaffrey, who raced 21 yards for a touchdown and an early 10-0 lead. The pass was similar to the one he threw back to Joshua Dobbs for a touchdown in 2015.
Later, with the Niners trailing 13-10 early in the fourth quarter, Jennings struck again. He took an in route from Brock Purdy inside the five-yard line and fought through two defenders to reach the end zone.
With the touchdown catch, Jennings became just the second player in NFL history to record both receiving and passing touchdowns in the Super Bowl, joining Philadelphia's Nick Foles in Super Bowl LII. Foles would go on to claim the Super Bowl MVP trophy.
In overtime with the game tied at 22, it looked like Jennings had a chance to give the Niners the upper hand and potentially cement the MVP award for himself in the process. On third-and-4 at the Kansas City 9, Jennings made a sharp cut towards the sideline and was open, with Purdy looking his way. However, Chris Jones pressured Purdy, who was forced into an errant throw and an incompletion.
Just one second longer, and the Super Bowl could have a different ending written, both for the 49ers and for Jennings, who could have become Tennessee football's second-ever alumnus to win the Super Bowl MVP trophy (Peyton Manning in Super Bowl XLI) had the Niners' defense pulled it off. Three touchdowns and a Super Bowl win would likely have done the trick for Jennings to claim the most valuable player honors.
Tennessee fans can only hope that's not the last chance that the "Dog" gets at experiencing Super Bowl glory.
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