Jauan

Jennings

Pelissero affirmed Addison’s role as a guest on the Rich Eisen Show. He prefaced the remarks by saying that WR Jauan Jennings’ signing “immediately raises questions” about whether the Vikings planned to move on from Addison before saying that they, in fact, do not. Jennings was brought in on a “cut-rate,” one-year deal to play the No. 3 wide receiver role.

We assumed this was the case, though Jennings’ size allows one to wonder if he might be valuable in heavy personnel packages. Nailor departed for the Raiders earlier this offseason. Vikings No. 2 WR Jordan Addison was suspended for Weeks 1-3 last season. From Week 4 on, Addison out-snapped Nailor 714-to-507. Expecting a similar split from Addison and Jennings this season is reasonable.

The deal includes an $8 million base salary. Jennings can make an extra $5 million via incentives. This will be Jennings’ first time playing for a team other than the 49ers, who drafted him in the 2020 NFL Draft’s seventh round. Jennings, 28, caught 55 passes for 643 yards and a career-high nine touchdowns last year. He should start in three-wide receiver sets alongside Justin Jefferson and Jordan Addison. Jefferson will rarely leave the field, but one wonders if Jennings (6'3/212) might be able to steal snaps from Addison (5'11/175) in two-wide receiver sets, in part due to Jennings’ run-blocking ability. Addison, 24, is the more talented receiver, so we expect him to remain the No. 2 target earner, but this dynamic is worth keeping an eye on in training camp. For now, Jennings can be viewed as a WR4/FLEX, while Jefferson sits in the WR1 tier and Addison in the WR2/3 range.

His market is starting to pick up steam now that we’re close to clearing the compensation pick portion of proceedings. The Dolphins, per Barry Jackson, also reportedly have interest in Jennings. It wouldn’t be surprising to see him signed before the week is out after his initial market went cold.

“I wouldn’t say the room is complete,” he added. The Athletic’s Daniel Popper also mentioned Jauan Jennings, Deebo Samuel, and Tyreek Hill as “unsigned veteran receivers with scheme familiarity” for new OC Mike McDaniel. Fantasy managers reliant on Ladd McConkey will want the Chargers to avoid a reunion with Allen, as they both tend to win in the same areas of the field. McConkey, of course, watched his fantasy stock suffer last year with Allen in the fold.

We assumed as much, but it’s good to have it on the record. Jennings is probably one of the 10 best free agents still standing ahead of the draft. Perhaps he’ll sign a little ahead of the actual draft if a team decides it can’t swing the wideout pick they really want early, or, barring that, after a team unexpectedly does not wind up with the receiver they want on Day 1 or 2.

It’s officially “the denials are adding up” season for Jennings, who was also ruled out as an option for the Commanders last week. “He’ll find a good home, and Jauan will go play great football for someone,” Lynch said. “I can’t say enough for what that guy did; when that guy stepped between the lines, man, he was a presence, and they had to deal with him, and he won us a lot of games.” Jennings will probably need to take a one-year deal at this point.

We surprisingly haven’t seen much on Jauan Jennings in free agency to this point, Keim has connected the dots to Jennings as a potential option for the Commanders before, but it doesn’t seem like that will happen. It’s possible that Jennings’ agents have simply misread his market and he’ll have to settle for a one-year deal somewhere, but there are plenty of teams that could use a big-bodied possession receiver like Jennings still.

If the Commanders were to make such a move, though, Keim believes that “they’d still likely pursue another wideout to pair with Terry McLaurin.” Keim lists 49ers WR Jauan Jennings, Packers WR Romeo Doubs, Colts WR Alec Pierce and Seahawks WR Rashid Shaheed as potential options. Commanders general manager Adam Peters is expected to be very active next week.

Jennings’ market hasn’t really been as leaky as Robinson (a rumored Titans target) and Shaheed (Raiders with Klint Kubiak, Buffalo, a return to Seattle all possibilities) but he does stand to be one of the winners of free agency after not getting a contract adjustment in 2025. He finished with a 55/643/9 receiving line in 15 games — some of which he was clearly playing through injuries — and could be a big-bodied possession receiver for a team lacking one.