A.J.

Jenkins

A surprising pick in the first round, A.J. Jenkins was extremely productive during his senior season with 1,276 receiving yards on 90 catches. Most of all, Jenkins flashed 4.39 speed at the Combine after performing well at both the East-West Shrine Game and Senior Bowl. Jenkins has tremendous positional versatility, lining up outside or in the slot with excellent body control to make difficult catches. He needs to refine his routes while working back towards his quarterback, but Jenkins is a reliable target on intermediate patterns and vertically.

Aside from perhaps West Virginia DE/OLB Bruce Irvin at No. 15, Jenkins was the most surprising pick of the first round, but it doesn’t appear the 49ers went as far off the grid as some draftniks thought they did. Jenkins’ stock was steadily on the rise heading into draft week, though he wasn’t expected to go any earlier than late in round two.

Private workouts cannot be held at team facilities, so it’s notable the Rams both worked out and hosted Jenkins. Such “11th hour” workouts often signal legitimate interest. On the rise of late, Jenkins is typically forecasted as a day-two pick, while it’s believed he could sneak into the second round. The Rams also held private workouts for Justin Blackmon, Michael Floyd and Kendall Wright.

Beat writers Matt Barrows and Matt Maiocco both noticed it on the field, and coach Jim Harbaugh confirmed he was unimpressed with Jenkins’ conditioning midway through practice. This won’t be a concern as long as Jenkins shows up to OTAs in better shape, but he certainly could’ve made a better first impression. He’s competing with Mario Manningham and Randy Moss for a starting job.

St. Louis appears to be the team that had Jenkins rated ahead of Michael Floyd, as reported by SI.com’s Peter King. That being the case, it’s hard to fault the 49ers for jumping on Jenkins. The Rams would have pulled the trigger at No. 33, No. 39, or No. 45 on Friday.

“Some guys are strictly Xs (split ends), some guys can sit in the slot, and some guys are strictly Zs (flankers),” said GM Trent Baalke. “We feel this is a multi-align guy. A guy who can line up at any of those three spots and have success in our system. It creates a lot of versatility in the position group.” In a suddenly crowded receiver corps, we’re not expecting Jenkins to be a fantasy asset as a rookie.

TFY Draft Insider believes Jenkins could enter the second round, with the Rams jumping all over him if still available in the early third. Kiper actually has Jenkins going to Jacksonville at No. 38 overall in his most recent mock. Rotoworld’s Josh Norris gives the inside-outside threat high marks for catch radius and making difficult grabs in traffic.

Beat writer Matt Maiocco finds it “difficult to imagine” Jenkins will carve out a role behind Michael Crabtree, Randy Moss, Mario Manningham, Ted Ginn and Kyle Williams. Maiocco believes even Ginn and Williams are “clearly ahead” of Jenkins on the depth chart. Barring a wave of injuries, Jenkins should remain well off the redraft radar in fantasy leagues for his entire rookie season.

Trusted beat writer Matt Maiocco finds it “difficult to believe” Jenkins could carve out a role opposite Michael Crabtree, Randy Moss and Mario Manningham, and believes his value as a first-round pick will be “measured over the course of his four-year deal.” We agree, and have Jenkins as the No. 92 wideout in our initial rankings. He won’t make an impact in redraft leagues early in the year.

Jenkins reported to rookie camp overweight before reportedly struggling in OTAs and minicamp. While he’s off to a slow start in San Francisco, Jenkins could turn it around quickly with a big training camp -- and he has plenty of talent to do so. For now, we’re avoiding Jenkins in fantasy drafts. He’s behind Michael Crabtree, Randy Moss, and Mario Manningham on the depth chart.