Wide receiver Jauan Jennings might not be the first player football fans would recall if asked about the San Francisco 49ers offense. George Kittle, Deebo Samuel, Brandon Aiyuk, and Christian McCaffrey will be the first players to come to mind. However, Jennings rose to the challenge when some of his more famous teammates were injured.
While the Niners didn't win their Week 3 game against the Los Angeles Rams, the wideout from Tennessee delivered a spectacular performance that etched his name on the franchise's record book.
Jennings torched the Rams' defense with 11 catches for 175 yards and three touchdowns. He missed only one catch throughout the game and averaged 15.9 yards per catch. While Jennings would claim that he's just doing his job, performing his role extraordinarily makes him the second player in 49ers history to have at least ten receptions and three touchdown grabs in a game.
Jauan Jennings became the only @49ers player other than Jerry Rice to have 10+ receptions and 3+ receiving TD in a single game in team history with his Week 3 performance pic.twitter.com/S2SVuP8ghq
— NFL (@NFL) September 24, 2024
What's more impressive is that Jennings copied the feat achieved by only one man before him: Pro Football Hall of Famer Jerry Rice. The Niners legend is still widely regarded as the greatest NFL player of all time because he still holds the career record for receptions (1,549), receiving yards (22,895), and touchdown catches (197).
No other NFL player has come close to any of those records held by Rice. Likewise, Jennings might not even sniff half of Rice's career numbers. But for one game, Jennings played like a G.O.A.T. (Greatest of All Time), which could inspire the Niners to tap more into his potential.
-Lance Fernandez