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Español49ers GM John Lynch assesses wide receiver corps ahead of NFL Scouting Combine originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area
The 49ers, like 31 other NFL teams, are looking ahead to the 2026 season — and for San Francisco, that preparation begins with finding some weapons for quarterback Brock Purdy.
The search, according to 49ers general manager John Lynch, might begin with the team attempting to re-sign free agent wide receiver Jauan Jennings.
“Jauan’s a free agent, so I think, in the coming weeks he’ll learn a lot about where he’s at, you know, in terms of what his market will be,” Lynch told local Bay Area reporters Tuesday at the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis.
“He knows what we feel of him, and we’ll continue to go down that path as we’ll continue to look outside and see who may be able to help us. Jauan’s a fantastic player. You guys know what we feel about him and really a lot of pride in drafting a guy like that in the seventh round and him having had the career that he’s had up to this point. So, obviously there’s interest and just leave it at that.”
Jennings led 49ers wide receivers with 55 receptions, 643 receiving yards and nine touchdowns in 2025 while playing 15 games for San Francisco.
Lynch also mentioned the young core the 49ers currently boast, namely guys from the team’s last two drafts like Ricky Pearsall, Jordan Watkins and 2024 fourth-round selection Jacob Cowing.
“We’ve got some young players that we really need to come to the forefront,” Lynch told reporters. “Jacob Cowing’s a guy that we’ve had and we’ve like for a couple years, he hasn’t been on to be able to be on the field much because of his hamstring ailments.”
Cowing played 15 games in 2024 but missed the entire 2025 NFL season due to a hamstring injury.
Watkins, the team’s fourth-round pick in the 2025 NFL Draft, suffered a similar injury-riddled fate in 2025 as he played in just four regular-season games due to a high ankle sprain and calf issue.
“Jordan Watkins has to take big steps, and then we’ve got opportunities to improve ourself by either bringing back some of the players who have been with us or go finding new guys that fit who we want to be and what we want to be both in free agency and in the draft,” Lynch said.
Obviously, the team’s wide receiving corps took a hit this past year when San Francisco traded Deebo Samuel to the Washington Commanders prior to the season, and when Brandon Aiyuk and the team had their falling out.
The 49ers finished sixth in the NFL with 4,318 receiving yards accrued, but they were just 21st in the league in terms of receiving yards by wide receivers with just 2,151.