The 2026 Free Agency Thread

[Dlts20]

 

[COWBOY-KILLA]

I'm not advocating for anything crazy money wise with Jennings, I just want to get Jayden reliable weapons man. What we have and what else is available doesn't seem to be. Hopefully it shakes. out in our favor.

 

[Dlts20]

I'm not advocating for anything crazy money wise with Jennings, I just want to get Jayden reliable weapons man. What we have and what else is available doesn't seem to be. Hopefully it shakes. out in our favor.

We have some solid options still but it's clear that they don't want to make any moves before they see how the draft plays out. I still think that they fully believe that Aiyuk is a sure bet to join. If we draft Tate then they may feel comfortable with those 2

 

[Primus Porcus]

I've long been in the camp that understands we may have to over-pay a bit in order to bring in talent, but I also don't want it to be detrimental. I've wanted Jennings, but at the same time there is scuttlebutt out there that he's a pain in the ass and creates drama with the amount of talking he does on the field. That's not always a bad thing, but it has its limits. I saw an article stating something like 3 yr - $67m and I think that's a little rich (but again, i understand we may have to over-pay on some level). I will say I'd rather have that contract on paper (that ends up being more like 2 yr / $40m with an out), than I would pay Pierce 3yr ~ $100m.

 

[ES1974]

Theres is no chance you should throw that kind of money at Jennings.

 

[philibusters]

yeah, 3 years 67 million for Jauan Jennings just seems like an overpay

 

[Primus Porcus]

Theres is no chance you should throw that kind of money at Jennings.

I think that's the going rate for a no. 2. He may be worth $15m or $16m so as I said, the $20m would be a bit of an overpay.

yeah, 3 years 67 million for Jauan Jennings just seems like an overpay

Wasn't advocating for that, that's just what shows up on paper. 2 years at $20m per year seems much more realistic.

 

[Voice_of_Reason]

I don't really have a problem with bringing in Jennings, and the cost is going to be what the cost is.

My general point is I don't think there's any reason to do it before the draft.

If somebody else wants to pay him 3 yr - $67m right now, then fine. I don't think that's going to happen, though, because if it was going to happen, it would have happened.

Everybody is going to wait until after the draft at this point. Then at least a few suitors are going to drop out because they will get a WR in the draft.

That's going to limit Jennings' market.

If we are one of the teams still on the market for a WR (ie: we don't land Tate or a WR we think is going to start right away), then Peters can go after Jennings and probably get him on a 1 year deal at that point.

I've also heard he's a big pain in the neck, especially with contracts. I don't know its' somebody you want to lock up long term anyway.

 

[Primus Porcus]

I don't really have a problem with bringing in Jennings, and the cost is going to be what the cost is.

My general point is I don't think there's any reason to do it before the draft.

If somebody else wants to pay him 3 yr - $67m right now, then fine. I don't think that's going to happen, though, because if it was going to happen, it would have happened.

Everybody is going to wait until after the draft at this point. Then at least a few suitors are going to drop out because they will get a WR in the draft.

That's going to limit Jennings' market.

If we are one of the teams still on the market for a WR (ie: we don't land Tate or a WR we think is going to start right away), then Peters can go after Jennings and probably get him on a 1 year deal at that point.

I've also heard he's a big pain in the neck, especially with contracts. I don't know its' somebody you want to lock up long term anyway.

Yeah all really good points.

The number I threw out there was just what i had read, and just stating that it would in fact be a bit of an overpay because we're simply going to have to do that at times in order to get talent in here.

 

[Voice_of_Reason]

Yeah all really good points.

The number I threw out there was just what i had read, and just stating that it would in fact be a bit of an overpay because we're simply going to have to do that at times in order to get talent in here.

I don't know if we really have to overpay to get talent, at least more than anybody else has to overpay to get talent in FA. Everybody overpays to some extent in FA.

And I also don't really mind overpaying a little bit. But I wouldn't do it until after the draft.

If we draft Tate at 7, then we clearly don't need to bother.

 

[burgold]

Aren't we past the overpay period? We're in the third wave of free agency. That means every player needs to understand they're on the discount rack. The big money has already been spent. Every team's done their high end shopping and now they're filling in the gaps at Target and yard sales

 

[bowhunter]

Theres is no chance you should throw that kind of money at Jennings.

The other side of the coin would say that "There is no chance you should risk not having a WR room yet again." We have the luxury of cap room and a hole. Whatever happens after the draft will also leave other teams making moves. Maybe a team doesn't find a WR in the early round and moves on JJ as well. Maybe Love is sitting there at 7 but have to pass bc we still need a WR. It's a neat spot to be in by having both cap room AND a good talent still sitting in FA to fill a known hole. For goodness sakes how nice would it be to place your first round pick knowing that you can choose the BPA and not draft for need. Overpay the man if AP thinks JJ has the skills. Leaving JD surrounded by lesser talent would be a travesty if you have the ability to prevent that. Last year we sat looking arounfd waiting for a "deal" to happen. How did that turn out for us?

 

[Primus Porcus]

Aren't we past the overpay period? We're in the third wave of free agency. That means every player needs to understand they're on the discount rack. The big money has already been spent. Every team's done their high end shopping and now they're filling in the gaps at Target and yard sales

I don't think were past the initial overpay period, but I do think we're going to have to continue to overpay in some instances pretty much at any time.

You're not wrong that with someone like Jennings, we may be the only one still standing at the table, so the idea of overpaying is not necessary because we're not actually competing with another team... that's absolutely a fair idea of how it could ultimately shake out.

 

[Dah-Dee]

I actually think Jennings is undervalued here in the forum; he's maybe the best-blocking WR in the NFL, is a beast on contested catches, is known for elite route-running, and he's been productive when given the chance. He's not fast, but nevertheless consistently has good separation metrics on the slants and intermediate routes he'd be running here. I think he was somewhat overshadowed in SF by Aiyuk, then Kittle and CMC, the last few years, underutilized.

I'd LOVE to have Jennings in the slot here, totally think his complete package of skills is worth fairly close to what he's apparently asking. I can only think that to this point his agent has been playing hard ball on that ask, not willing to come down even a little bit. Even then, we've got the cap room and a clear need, and Jennings sure looks like a fit to me.

I still think the most likely result is he ends up in Tennessee, and it seems weird that although we know Washington was in on Pierce and Doubs, there's been zero talk of Commanders interest in Jennings. I really don't get that, doesn't seem to make any sense given our gaping hole at WR2/slot (sorry Dyami/Burks/whoever), don't see how Peters could think it's okay to close in on 2026 camp with a WR room only nominally improved from the freaking 2025 disaster he created.

I want to see them sign Jennings AND Aiyuk AND draft Love.

 

[Voice_of_Reason]

I actually think Jennings is undervalued here in the forum; he's maybe the best-blocking WR in the NFL, is a beast on contested catches, is known for elite route-running, and he's been productive when given the chance. He's not fast, but nevertheless consistently has good separation metrics on the slants and intermediate routes he'd be running here. I think he was somewhat overshadowed in SF by Aiyuk, then Kittle and CMC, the last few years, underutilized.

I'd LOVE to have Jennings in the slot here, totally think his complete package of skills is worth fairly close to what he's apparently asking. I can only think that to this point his agent has been playing hard ball on that ask, not willing to come down even a little bit. Even then, we've got the cap room and a clear need, and Jennings sure looks like a fit to me.

I still think the most likely result is he ends up in Tennessee, and it seems weird that although we know Washington was in on Pierce and Doubs, there's been zero talk of Commanders interest in Jennings. I really don't get that, doesn't seem to make any sense given our gaping hole at WR2/slot (sorry Dyami/Burks/whoever), don't see how Peters could think it's okay to close in on 2026 camp with a WR room only nominally improved from the freaking 2025 disaster he created.

I want to see them sign Jennings AND Aiyuk AND draft Love.

The counter to your argument is the team that he's been with didn't want to give him more money last year and then didn't want to retain him this year.

If there is any team which should over-value him, it's his old team. And they don't. They were perfectly happy to move on from him.

 

[Dah-Dee]

The counter to your argument is the team that he's been with didn't want to give him more money last year and then didn't want to retain him this year.

If there is any team which should over-value him, it's his old team. And they don't. They were perfectly happy to move on from him.

The counter to your counter to my argument 😵 is, going into last year PFF calculated Jennings was the most underrated player on the SF roster, and after a solid 2025 it looks like Lynch/Shanahan do underrate/undervalue him.

Happens all the time, player X doesn't get paid by original team, goes to another team and tears it up. Let's be the team that gets the benefit of the 49ers' mistake. Twice.

 

[Voice_of_Reason]

The counter to your counter to my argument 😵 is, going into last year PFF calculated Jennings was the most underrated player on the SF roster, and after a solid 2025 it looks like Lynch/Shanahan do underrate/undervalue him.

Happens all the time, player X doesn't get paid by original team, goes to another team and tears it up. Let's be the team that gets the benefit of the 49ers' mistake. Twice.

Ok, you're going to make me break my sacred vow. I see how it is.

PFF was a useful tool sometimes. (I think that keeps my vow of not ragging on PFF. Conn can decide if I've broken my vow.)

That said, there is literally no way that PFF has a better idea of what SF's WRs can do over Kyle, Lynch, and the rest of the SF coaches. Literally none. There are times when PFF was really good at providing information. There are others when they were hot take artists influenced by their Dear Leader and his cronies to put out nonsense in order to drum up conversation. In this case, I'm perfectly happy to ignore PFF altogether and just go with what SF has done as the real "analysis."

And to further the point, the entire league has also voted by not signing him to the deal he wanted, and over a month into FA, he's still available.

So if you needed 2 pieces of evidence that, at least in this instance, PFF was full of poopy, SF not wanting him back and the entire league passing on him are pretty good indicators they are out in left field on this one.

 

[Dah-Dee]

So what I hear VOR saying is, SF *AND* the rest of the NFL are wrong about Jennings and we should grab him before anybody wakes up to his All-Galaxy-ness.

 

[bowhunter]

So what I hear VOR saying is, SF *AND* the rest of the NFL are wrong about Jennings and we should grab him before anybody wakes up to his All-Galaxy-ness.

Actually it was the "Mr. Congeniality" and "Most Photogenic" titles that JJ took home during the All Galaxy pageant, but otherwise...yeah We should add someone of JJs caliber to our team, and JJ is closest to JJ that is currently available.

..and as a PS, I don't think the rest of the league isn out on him. They don't like his asking price, but you can bet your sweet ass that a bunch of them would take a swing for him in the 16-18 AAV range. The whole point of shopping during the FA period is spending your money on things that you both need and can afford. Give JD some weapons

 

[COWBOY-KILLA]

I dont think it will take 3 yr 67 mil. At all. At this point I believe it will be 12-18 Mil/yr. I could be wrong but that is my belief.

What i'm saying is, let's be the ones to get it done.