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The 49ers had to glare and snarl a bit, put a replacement plan in place, and generally show that they were very ready to move on without Jauan Jennings — just to make sure he was really with them this week.
They had to dare him to cross the line and bear the consequences. And, very obviously, that line was Monday’s practice.
Yes, Jennings was back in uniform and looking like he was full-go at Monday’s practice, returning after missing more than a month with a calf injury and during a contract stalemate.
Afterward, Jennings walked through the locker room with a smile during open media period, but 49ers PR staffers quickly indicated that he wouldn’t be speaking publicly until later this week.
Let’s put it this way: When players win major contractual concessions at the end of a long dispute, they usually are happy to speak to the media about it — the way Brandon Aiyuk spoke last year at this time after landing a massive deal from the 49ers that the 49ers almost instantly regretted. Or their happy agent finds a way to celebrate it via a national report detailing the new cash flow.
On Monday … none of that happened.
This time, all indications are that Jennings didn’t receive much or any kind of enticement to return to practice. Maybe there was a vague offering by the 49ers’ side to continue discussions if he started practicing in time to be ready for Sunday’s regular-season opener in Seattle. Maybe there was something slightly more tangible than that.
But the overall picture is crystal clear: The 49ers were determined to avoid a major renegotiation of Jennings’ contract for the second time in two seasons after giving him a two-year, $15-million restructuring in May 2024, and Jennings had to accept that he couldn’t force them into it.
(I suspect his agent, Drew Rosenhaus, knew most of this was inevitable long ago, but had to play it out. Easy clues: After the initial July ESPN report of Jennings wanting a new deal or he’d seek to be traded, there was zero national coverage of this tense situation. None. Which is a sure sign of a player-driven situation, with the agent kind of riding along and waiting for the losing resolution.)
Along the way, the 49ers tacitly or outright threatened to put Jennings on injured reserve (which could’ve wiped away a lot of bonus money) or deactivate him for several games. Or they could’ve suspended him if he refused to return to practice after they decided his injury had healed.
The 49ers also added several veteran receivers — and had old friend Kendrick Bourne visiting team HQ on Monday during practice — to offset Jennings’ main source of leverage, which was the team’s thin group of wide receivers, especially while they wait for Brandon Aiyuk and Jacob Cowing to come back from injuries and for Demarcus Robinson’s suspension to end after Week 3.
Could the 49ers have done enough in the passing game in the first few weeks of the season without Jennings? Unknown, but the 49ers certainly let Jennings know that they were willing to try.
And I think the 49ers have been thrilled with Ricky Pearsall’s development this summer and, at the moment (and even with Jennings back), are prepared to think of him as their top receiver until Aiyuk’s return.
Jennings, meanwhile, was at least initially asking for more than $20 million a year, up from the $7.5 million he’s scheduled to earn this season, according to several NFL sources. Which was a number that the 49ers were never, ever, ever going to pay.
But Jennings had his own card to play. Last week, John Lynch confirmed that Jennings had, indeed, asked to be traded, but Lynch wouldn’t say when that occurred. And Lynch added that the 49ers would not trade Jennings.
From there, it was Jennings’ choice: Keep trying to get the 49ers to budge or call it off and get back to practice. Frankly, I’m surprised the 49ers let it go this long — past last week, when they had to cut down to 53 players without knowing if Jennings was actually going to be willing to practice and play.
So maybe their big concession was to give Jennings one more week to think it over, to watch the WR room fill up with veterans, and to consider what happens if, at 28 and coming off a career year, 2025 ends up as a wasted season.
He gave himself and everybody else the answer by getting back on the practice field on Monday, presumably just in time to be ready to play Week 1. Is Jennings happy about it? Doubtful. I’ve been saying for a while that I think this will be his last season as a 49er, though things can change swiftly if he puts up another huge season. For now, it’s good enough for the 49ers to have No. 15 on the field in Week 1 and through the rest of this season.
And Jennings’ return was far from the only one for the 49ers on Monday. There was a whole panorama of newly healthy players going through drills when I got to the field on Monday — from Dominick Puni to Upton Stout to Yetur Gross-Matos to Russell Gage.
Wait, suddenly the 49ers have almost no injuries and no controversies?
“It helps a lot, obviously having all hands on deck, having the guys that we planned to be here, having them there Week 1,” Trent Williams said. “It’s definitely gonna help — gonna need it going into the toughest environment in the league (on Sunday).”
After all the drama through camp, it was something to see. Of course, there might be side effects. Some of these guys might not be ready to play Sunday. Or might get reinjured if they do.
And Jennings might have some hard feelings about the way this all went down. He lost something by returning to practice without a new deal. But if the 49ers had won without him on Sunday and beyond, he might’ve lost almost everything.
