49ers injury designations give disgruntled WR more leverage in contract talks
Ricky Pearsall and Brandon Aiyuk both went on the PUP list as they recover from injuries ahead of training camp. Aiyuk starting camp on PUP isn't a surprise. He tore his ACL and MCL, and took additional damage in his knee in Week 7 last season. It doesn't sound like the club is eager to rush him back, so a training camp return isn't likely.
Pearsall landing on PUP changes the dynamic of the 49ers WR room and gives Jennings additional leverage as he seeks a contract extension with San Francisco.
We've already explored the 49ers' shaky WR depth and how there's a strong chance Jennings could land in the WR1 role like he did last season when he led the team's WRs with a career-best 975 yards. A potential holdup for the 49ers in dishing out a more lucrative contract to the 2020 seventh-round pick is what his role looks like in the future. Paying him as a WR1 or WR2 isn't something they were banking on after giving Aiyuk a massive extension last offseason and drafting Pearsall in the first round of last year's draft.
There were question marks about Pearsall's ability to stay healthy after he missed virtually all of last year's camp with hamstring and shoulder injuries. Those question marks resurfaced again in OTAs this year when Pearsall sat out because of a hamstring injury. Head coach Kyle Shanahan indicated during OTAs that Pearsall's absence was cautionary and that he'd be ready for training camp.
That Pearsall is on PUP to start camp is a significant red flag for the second-year WR. It also puts the top of the 49ers WR depth chart into more flux. Jennings' claim to a new contract hinges on the stability he brings to a group clouded by uncertainty. He's been on the 49ers' active roster for four seasons and has played in 60 games. In 2023 he missed four total games, but outside of that he's never missed more than two in a season.
It appears going into camp this year that Jennings will be the 49ers' WR1 by a significant margin. Even if Pearsall returns and has a strong preseason, his injury questions will linger and there's still no certainty around Aiyuk for this season and beyond.
The 49ers may have been able to justify not extending Jennings if they could stand behind Pearsall as WR1 and Aiyuk as an eventual WR2 this season. That becomes much more difficult to do with Pearsall out to begin camp. There's a significant risk in potentially losing or rocking the boat with Jennings and sending the 49ers' WR corps into a tailspin that derails their offense into 2025. That dramatically outweighs the risk of financial complications with a new contract for Jennings.
If the answer wasn't clear for San Francisco before, the PUP list designations should help.
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