Jauan Jennings' Super Bowl performance will unfortunately just be a footnote in history following the San Francisco 49ers' overtime defeat to the Kansas City Chiefs.

But the wide receiver is set to get his reward for an excellent postseason, capped by a Super Bowl showing in which he threw for and caught a touchdown in the 25-22 loss, with the 49ers set to prioritize his future this offseason.

Jennings is a restricted free agent this year, which means the 49ers will need to sign him to a tender to ensure they receive compensation if he signs an offer sheet with another team and they choose not to match it.

As NBC Sports Bay Area's Matt Maiocco laid out, the most likely scenario is that Jennings is signed to a Right of First Refusal tender. Per Over The Cap, that would pay him $2.828 million in 2024. He would be an unrestricted free agent in 2025.

But the 49ers are seemingly keen to avoid him getting to hit the open market next year, with Maiocco reporting they will attempt to sign Jennings to a multi-year extension before the start of free agency.

Prioritizing the third wide receiver on a team that also has elite pass-catching weapons at other positions in Christian McCaffrey and George Kittle may on the surface appear to be an odd move.

Yet Jennings' value to the 49ers, both as a receiver and as a vicious blocker in the open field, became widely apparent across the course of the postseason.

Even prior to his five-catch, 42-yard showing in the Super Bowl, his receiving touchdown putting the 49ers ahead in the fourth quarter, Jennings had already made a huge playoff impact.

He had five catches for 61 yards in the divisional round comeback win over the Green Bay Packers and, though he only had one catch in the NFC Championship Game, it was a critical diving circus catch that set up a field goal to start the Niners' miraculous comeback from a 17-point halftime deficit against the Detroit Lions.

Jennings was targeted 13 times in the postseason and caught 10 passes for 111 yards and his touchdown. Among receivers with at least 10 targets in the playoffs, only Romeo Doubs (1.56) and Puka Nacua (1.14) had a higher Expected Points Added per target than Jennings (0.66).

The 2020 seventh-round pick was already long established as a reliable target, especially on third down, prior to the postseason. However, Jennings took it to another level on the biggest stages. While keeping him around for the long term might not seem like the most pressing issue for the 49ers, it's easy to see why they have put an extension near the top of their to-do list.

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An ill-advised selection.