49ers say Jauan Jennings hasn’t formally requested for commerce

SANTA CLARA, Calif. — On the eve of their first practice of 2025 training camp, San Francisco 49ers general manager John Lynch and coach Kyle Shanahan expressed confidence that wide receiver Jauan Jennings will be at practice and participating when they begin Wednesday.

Shanahan and Lynch spent about 21 minutes discussing the start of camp Tuesday with much of the focus on a receiver room featuring plenty of questions. The primary query focuses on Jennings, who, sources told ESPN’s Adam Schefter last week, would like a lucrative contract extension or, barring that, a trade.

But Lynch and Shanahan said Tuesday that Jennings reported to camp on Monday, has not yet formally requested a trade and their expectation is that he will be in his usual spot when practice begins.

“I won’t speak for Jauan, but had a good visit with him,” Lynch said. “[We] anticipate him being out there. You guys know our feelings on JJ. He embodies what we think a Niner is all about, plays the right way and we love him … All that stuff, we’re not going to get into the contract talks and all that. That takes care of itself, but we love him and he’s here.”

Asked whether there have been discussions with Drew Rosenhaus, Jennings’ agent, about a new deal, Lynch declined to offer specifics, repeating only that “we love him and he’s here.” Jennings is entering the final season of the two-year, $15.39 million extension he signed in the 2024 offseason and is set to count $4.258 million against the salary cap.

Jennings’ desire for a raise comes after a career year in which he posted 77 receptions for 975 yards and six touchdowns, falling short of the 1,000-yard mark largely because he was ejected in the first half of the season finale against the Arizona Cardinals. He also finished 10th in the NFL in yards per route run (2.51) and is considered one of the league’s best blocking wideouts.

On Tuesday, San Francisco quarterback Brock Purdy, who signed a megadeal of his own earlier in the offseason, expressed his hope to get Jennings taken care of as soon as possible.

“It’s extremely important,” Purdy said. “I obviously love JJ and what he brings to our team and to myself as a quarterback. We’ve had so much success together and anytime you see something like this going on as a player, it’s like, man, ‘Let’s figure out something so he can get back out in the field and we continue to do what we’ve done.’ I hope everything gets handled but would love my guy to be out there on the field with me.”

Of course, Jennings is currently working with plenty of leverage given the uncertainty elsewhere in the Niners’ receiver room. Presumptive No. 1 wideout Brandon Aiyuk is still recovering from the torn ACL and MCL in his right knee that he suffered in Week 7 of last season.

The Niners placed Aiyuk on the active/physically unable to perform list last week and are not expecting him to participate in the on-field portion of training camp.

“He did a lot to his knee, and I would tell you that he’s in a really good place considering all that,” Lynch said. “What does that mean in terms of a timeline and all that? We’re continuing to assess and get information … I think we’re encouraged on where he is at but not anywhere close to having a set-in-stone timeline.”

Second-year wideout Ricky Pearsall is also working his way back from what Shanahan termed Tuesday a “bad” hamstring injury suffered during the team’s offseason program in the spring. Pearsall was one of six players placed on the active/PUP list but Lynch and Shanahan indicated Pearsall’s stay on that list shouldn’t be long.

Lynch said Pearsall is unlikely to practice Wednesday and Shanahan pointed to the potential for him to be activated Sunday after the team has conducted three practices and had a day off.

“He’s good now,” Shanahan said. “He’s hit all his in miles per hour. He’s fine … We’re not going to throw a wideout out there the first three days. We don’t want to pull it again until we see his conditioning and everything, which we should get in three days.”

One other receiver-related piece of information the Niners are awaiting is potential disciplined for veteran addition Demarcus Robinson, who pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor charge of driving under the influence in Los Angeles on July 10. He was ordered to pay a $390 fine and complete court-mandated programs including a three-month alcohol education program.

That plea could lead to a suspension for Robinson, though that has yet to be decided, Lynch said.

“That’s a league matter with respect to Demarcus and we’ll let that play out,” Lynch said. “We knew there was a possibility when we signed Demarcus, [so] we have accounted for that.”

With all of that in mind, the Niners worked out six receivers on Monday and, according to Lynch, agreed to terms with veteran Equanimeous St. Brown on Tuesday. Shanahan prefers to have 12 healthy receivers in training camp but with Aiyuk and Pearsall on PUP and other questions abound, they wanted to add at least one more body to that group.

In six NFL seasons split among the Green Bay Packers, Chicago Bears and New Orleans Saints, St. Brown has played in 62 games with 63 receptions for 928 yards and two touchdowns. He had no targets or catches in two games with the Saints in 2024.