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Former San Francisco 49ers WR Jauan Jennings took a shot at his former team

The San Francisco 49ers tried their hardest to retain wide receiver Jauan Jennings this offseason.

The team reportedly offered the 28-year-old wideout a deal worth $17 million per year last season, which he rejected to take his chances in free agency.

Jennings signed with the Minnesota Vikings for $13 million earlier this week, and now that he’s out of the Bay Area, he’s seemingly taking shots at his former team. Jennings recently liked an Instagram post of FS1’s Colin Cowherd ripping into the 49ers for being old and relying on injury prone players.

“The San Francisco 49ers is the one schedule that I’m really interested in how it plays out,” Cowherd said. “This year they travel 38,000 miles — more than any team. And the Niners are in a weird space. They rely heavily — maybe more than any team in the league, maybe — on older veteran players to stay healthy. The other thing is they added more older players — Mike Evans, Christian Kirk.

“And the other thing is their schedule goes from second-easiest in the league to now it’s a much tougher schedule. So I can see the Niners completely falling apart if Christian McCaffrey gets injured, if the schedule is brutal after that injury. Kyle Shanahan is a great coach but he has had four losing seasons in San Francisco, so I mean it’s old, brittle, and lead in travel. That sounds like a 68-year old insurance salesman who drinks too much. It does not sound like a Super Bowl champion.”

Jennings Rejected 49ers Contract Offer

GettyJauan Jennings signed with the Minnesota Vikings in free agency

It’s not known what kind of money Jennings was looking for on the free-agent market, but he likely assumed he could get more than what the 49ers offered him.

NBC Sports Bay Area’s Matt Maiocco recently reported that Jennings wanted to bet on himself that he could earn WR1 money from another team on the open market.

“From what I understand, the offer was in the neighborhood of $17M per season for the 49ers to sign Jauan Jennings to a multiyear extension before last season,” Maiocco stated. “I think Jennings was looking for far north of $20M a year. Jauan figured ‘I’ll bet on myself and go out and have a good season, and get that contact. I guess in essence the 49ers saved $17M that they then invested in Mike Evans and Christian Kirk.”

How Did Jennings Land in Minnesota?

GettyJauan Jennings reportedly turned down a $17 million per year contract offer from the 49ers

The $20 million-plus per year Jennings was seeking may not have been completely farfetched. Spotrac projected Jennings’ market value at $22.6 million, which he may have gotten from any of the WR-needy teams had they not taken one in the draft.

The Tennessee Titans (Carnell Tate), New Orleans Saints (Jordyn Tyson), Philadelphia Eagles (Makai Lemon), Cleveland Browns (KC Concepcion, Denzel Boston), New York Jets (Omar Cooper Jr.), Pittsburgh Steelers (Germie Bernard), Washington Commanders (Antonio Williams), and New York Giants (Malachi Fields) all needed receivers and could’ve been in the running for Jennings pre-draft.

With most of the market for Jennings eliminated because of the influx of rookie WRs, the Vikings were one of a few teams that showed interest in the Tennessee alum in the days after the draft.

After an in-person visit with the team, Jennings signed a few days later. Though he took less money than what San Francisco offered him, some would argue he ended up in a better spot as Minnesota’s WR3 behind Justin Jefferson and Jordan Addison catching passes from Kyler Murray.