Kawakami reveals what Jauan Jennings is asking from the 49ers
“”What you hear—not from the camp but from NFL circles—is that it’s high,” Kawakami explained. “It’s above 20 (million dollars annually), is what I’ve heard, and maybe a lot above 20 a year, to put him in the top 20 or so of receivers, in that realm. The 49ers have done it before with Brandon Aiyuk, so there is precedent for lifting a guy way up on the higher ranks of the receiver salaries”…”What I’ve heard from the 49ers side, in the air on that one, is that they don’t want to do anything,” Kawakami continued. “They are negotiating. I think there have been numbers exchanged, but they just redid his deal last year, and that’s before he got [975] yards receiving [in 2024]. That’s before he was the first receiver, basically, last year when Aiyuk got hurt. That’s before a lot of other things happened.”
The 49ers obviously don’t want to go through this with Jennings every year, and appear to be standing firm, knowing that the wideout is under contract for the 2025 season.
“If you ask me what the dollars are, I would tell you, just from my opinion, is that it’s not close. It’s not even close,” Kawakami added. “Now, at some point, you’ve got to either make a deal or not, and the 49ers want him on the field on Week 1.
“And Jauan Jennings probably doesn’t want to go on injury reserve or get deactivated or whatever could happen in the next few days if he’s not practicing. But everything I’ve heard is that he wants a lot, and the 49ers are offering very little.”
49ers practice and media schedule ahead of Week 1 matchup vs. Seahawks
“Monday, September 1
10:55 a.m. – Practice
Tuesday, September 2
Players’ day off
Wednesday, September 3
12:40 p.m. – Kyle Shanahan press conference
1:55 p.m. – Practice
Thursday, September 4
12:55 p.m. – Practice
After practice (approx. 2:45 p.m.) – Robert Saleh press conference
Following Saleh – Klay Kubiak press conference
Following Kubiak – Brock Purdy press conference
Friday, September 5
12:35 p.m. – Practice
After practice (approx. 1:35 p.m.) – Kyle Shanahan press conference”
Can this special teams iron man fill 49ers’ linebacking vacancy? ‘He can play defense, too’
““When I really started to own it, that’s kind of when my career took off and really gave me more opportunities on defense,” Gifford said, “because a lot of times you play well enough on special teams, a lot of that translates.”
SAM can often be an overlooked position, particularly given the proliferation of the nickel defense in the NFL. It’s often a 1-for-1 substitution between the nickel cornerback and the strong-side linebacker, and increasingly a regular at nickel gets the majority of snaps. But SAM is not unimportant. Gifford said he is “good buddies” with former 49ers strong-side linebacker and Titans teammate Azeez Al-Shaair, who can certainly attest to the defensive value he brought spanning four seasons with the franchise.
But with new special teams coordinator Brant Boyer in place, Gifford knows his money will be made as a “Core 4” centerpiece — someone who anchors all four of the kickoff return, punt return, kickoff coverage and punt coverage units.“
Painful summer for 49ers’ rookies has anxious Robert Saleh thinking of a young Nick Bosa (paywall)
““I’ve always argued that the interior D-line is probably the second hardest position for a rookie to excel at just because of how fast everything happens in there,” Saleh said. “Just the different body types and blocking combinations they get. So (Williams and West have) got a lot of ground that they have to make up.”
Collins, selected 43rd overall, also needs to make up ground despite playing in every preseason game and participating in every training-camp practice. Saleh indicated Collins, 6-foot-5 and 332 pounds, remains behind in his physical development after he missed spring practices with a calf injury.
“His strength isn’t even all there yet because he hasn’t been able to push his lower-half strength to the level that he needs to — to be able to perform in there,” Saleh said. “But you feel him getting stronger, you feel him getting his legs underneath him, you feel the juice and the twitch in his body come to life. We feel like he’s just reached baseline… it’s going to go really, really fast” in Week 1, Saleh said.
“All these rookies, if they thought preseason was fast, the regular season is about 100 times faster.”
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