The San Francisco 49ers' injury crisis continued this weekend after Mike Evans was forced to leave Sunday's win against the Arizona Cardinals with a rib strain. Evans is set to be further evaluated on Monday, but it adds further strain on a receiving room that is already down to its bare bones after injuries to Ricky Pearsall, De'Zhaun Stribling and Christian Kirk – all of whom are currently on IR. Without Evans, the Niners' passing offense will be lead by Jacob Cowing and veteran offseason returnee Deebo Samuel, with just KhaDarel Hodge and second year pro Jordan Watkins left as backups.
As such, it tracks that San Francisco ought to look at other options in the trade market to patch up the room. The idea floated by On Sports Illustrated's Grant Cohn, who is the publisher for the 49ers channel, is that the Niners should part with a seventh round pick in 2027 and bring back Jauan Jennings, who is currently on the Vikings. Jennings has been the Vikings' clear third option since arriving in the offseason, but the 29-year old also only saw 48% of snaps when both he and the rest of the starting offense were healthy in Week 1, with the modal offensive personnel lineup seeing Jefferson and Jordan Addison being paired with tight ends T.J.
Hockenson and Josh Oliver. With Oliver now likely set to miss the rest of the season, it is quite possible that Jennings could see an extended role in Minnesota. At the same time, he has been hardly used in the passing game, even if he does play a reasonably high percentage of offensive snaps.
Jennings has been targeted just 3 times in two games (he missed Week 2 with a personal matter), gaining just 1 singular receiving yard. The former Niner would immediately walk into San Francisco with an upgraded quarterback situation, and as the clear premier option downfield if Evans does spend time on the sidelines.
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