SANTA CLARA, Calif. — “Top three shooters of all time …”
Kyle Juszczyk is an authority on the subject. The longtime San Francisco 49ers fullback is situated in the section of the locker room where the equipment guys have erected a basketball hoop. It’s regulation height and the room has 20-foot ceilings, so it lends itself to 3-point contests.
And those contests are constant. As Juszczyk is speaking, in fact, a ball ricochets off the side of the rim and bounces over his head and into the top cubby of his locker.
“The top three of all time …” he continues while collecting the ball “… Nate Sudfeld, Dre Greenlaw and Jauan Jennings. Jauan can shoot.”
That Jennings, whose lean frame stretches a little over 6-foot-3, was a high school hooper, is no surprise. But you picture him as a Dennis Rodman type, crashing the boards for rebounds, playing aggressive defense and perhaps continuing the rough stuff to the point when an opponent lashes out and commits a silly foul. A Rodman-like dye job is even part of his look. At various points in his career, it’s been purple, red and a fiery yellow. These days it’s green.
Yes, Jennings did a little Rodman-like rebounding, he said. But early on he was shorter than the other kids in Murfreesboro, Tenn., forcing him to rely on quick feet and a smooth jumper.
“I grew up being taught that mid-range was the key,” he said. “I grew up getting to the free-throw line and (hitting the) mid-range. The 3-pointer came later.”
That blend of skills starts to explain his trajectory as a 49ers receiver. There’s more than meets the eye with Jennings, and he’s been evolving since San Francisco drafted him in the seventh round in 2020.
He has the strength and length of a big wideout, and his physical nature first got him onto the field. Back in 2021, he was best known as a blocker who was so relentless he would routinely get under the skin of defensive backs. Then-Jacksonville Jaguars cornerback Rayshawn Jenkins fell victim when he swatted a helmet-less Jennings in a Week 11 game in Jacksonville.
Rayshawn Jenkins got ejected in this 2021 scuffle with Jauan Jennings. Jennings got a fist bump from his head coach. (Jasen Vinlove / USA Today)
Jenkins went to the locker room after being ejected. Jennings went to the sideline and got a fist bump from Kyle Shanahan, who was well aware of the storm roiling inside his receiver on game days but was proud he kept it contained.
“I saw him competing as hard as you can compete on a run play and just playing until the whistle,” Shanahan said at the time. “Obviously, the other guy got upset with him, did some things to Jauan that I was a little worried about because Jauan gets very excited.”
A year later, Jennings became better known as “Third & Jauan” — the guy quarterbacks target when they need a critical first down. Over the last four seasons, the 49ers have thrown 81 third-down passes in his direction and Jennings has hauled in 61 of them for 696 yards. Of those, 47 have resulted in first downs with another five in touchdowns. There’s been only one interception, which came when Trey Lance tried to hit him on third-and-5 in the 2022 season opener in Chicago.
And it hasn’t always mattered if he was wide open. The rule among quarterbacks is that you need only throw toward Jennings and he’ll usually come down with the ball.
“He’s going to fight for the football,” said Joshua Dobbs, a teammate at the University of Tennessee who famously connected with Jennings on a 43-yard Hail Mary touchdown in 2016. “You know the worst-case scenario is it’s going to be an incomplete pass. And a lot of times, even if you don’t throw the perfect ball, he’ll come down with it.”
Jauan Jennings was targeted 12 times on Sunday. The only pass he didn’t haul in was his first on the opening drive. He caught the next 11, including this one in the third quarter. pic.twitter.com/CJNM6hPGB9
— Matt Barrows (@mattbarrows) September 23, 2024
This year, Jennings has made another major transformation — he’s become the best wide receiver on the team.
That started at the Super Bowl in February when the Kansas City Chiefs’ big, physical cornerbacks clamped down on the 49ers’ Nos. 1 and 2 receivers, Brandon Aiyuk and Deebo Samuel Sr., and held them to no touchdowns and 82 combined receiving yards. So Brock Purdy started looking in Jennings’ direction in the second half. He caught four passes, including a 10-yard touchdown, and threw a touchdown to Christian McCaffrey. If Purdy hadn’t been forced to rush an overtime throw to Jennings at the goal line, he almost certainly would have had another touchdown and quite possibly the Super Bowl MVP award.
The 2024 regular season has been a continuation of that theme.
The 49ers made four big moves at receiver in the offseason: 1. They drafted Ricky Pearsall at the end of the first round; 2. They extended Jennings through 2025; 3. They restructured Samuel’s contract; 4. They made Aiyuk one of the richest players in the NFL with a four-year deal that averages $30 million a season.
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Only one of those moves has worked out well so far. Jennings started the season at his usual “F” position, one that requires him to move around before the snap and mostly work out of the slot. But he proved to the 49ers he could handle more in Week 3 against the Los Angeles Rams when, substituting for injured Samuel, he finished with 11 catches, 175 yards and three touchdowns.
When Aiyuk tore his ACL in Week 7, the 49ers again turned to Jennings and asked him to step into Aiyuk’s X-receiver role. That’s the 49ers’ marquee receiver spot, requiring speed, footwork and endurance.
“I’d say the main difference is my wind,” Jennings said. “I’m going from playing probably 25 to 30 snaps to 50 to 60 now. That’s the biggest difference I’ve felt.”
Another difference: The caliber of the opponent.
One reason Jennings was a wise target in the Super Bowl was the dropoff after the Chiefs’ first and second cornerbacks. Jennings versus a team’s No. 3 cornerback is usually a mismatch. At the X position, however, he often draws the opponent’s top cornerback.
It hasn’t seemed to matter. Jennings has been the most-targeted 49ers wideout this season — 78 versus 64 for Samuel — and has been jockeying with tight end George Kittle all season to be the team’s receiving yards leader. As of now, Kittle is winning 800 to 774, which already is a career high for Jennings.
Dobbs isn’t surprised.
He noted that Jennings went through a similar evolution at Tennessee. He got on the field quickly because he arrived in Knoxville as a quarterback, learned the offense from that perspective, then switched over to receiver.
As was the case with the 49ers, Jennings started out in the “F” spot and early on was best known for blocking opponents into the Gatorade coolers on the sideline. By Year 2, he was working at X and had a different reputation.
“We circled him as our contested catch guy knowing that if he had one-on-ones, grimy situations — third-down, red zone — he was the guy we wanted to give a chance,” Dobbs said.
Dobbs, a senior at the time, said it didn’t matter that Jennings was matched against SEC cornerbacks who would be first- or second-round NFL picks. In fact, Dobbs remembered preparing for a game against Florida and cornerback Jalen Tabor, who at the time was considered one of the top cornerbacks in the country.
“And we said, if Jauan gets a one-on-one with Tabor, we want to give him a go ball,” he said. “And then he catches one for a (67)-yard touchdown.”
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So what about their famous Hail Mary, which is among the grimiest pass plays in football from a receiver’s perspective. Dobbs must have been targeting Jennings on his throw in the final seconds against Georgia, right?
Actually, no, Dobbs said. The ball was meant to go to Tennessee’s best “jumper,” tight end Jason Croom, who was a little taller than Jennings.
“I wasn’t throwing to him, which is the crazy thing,” Dobbs said. “But am I surprised that Jauan cut in front of him and caught the ball? No. Not at all.”
(Top photo: Ezra Shaw / Getty Images)
