{"id":633184,"date":"2026-05-09T16:51:10","date_gmt":"2026-05-09T16:51:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/633184\/"},"modified":"2026-05-09T16:51:10","modified_gmt":"2026-05-09T16:51:10","slug":"vikings-hc-doesnt-hold-back-on-jauan-jennings-signing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/633184\/","title":{"rendered":"Vikings HC Doesn\u2019t Hold Back on Jauan Jennings Signing"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\t\t\t\t<img width=\"780\" height=\"439\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/kevin-o-connell-minnesota-vikings.jpg\" class=\"attachment-featured-image size-featured-image wp-post-image\" alt=\"Kevin O'Connell, Minnesota Vikings\"   decoding=\"async\" fetchpriority=\"high\"\/>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tGetty\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>(Photo by Brace Hemmelgarn\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/sports\/nfl\/minnesota-vikings\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Minnesota Vikings<\/a> went with <a class=\"wpil_keyword_link\" href=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/nfl\/player\/jauan-jennings\/\" title=\"Jauan Jennings\" data-wpil-keyword-link=\"linked\" data-wpil-monitor-id=\"255364\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Jauan Jennings<\/a> to fill that WR3 role that became vacant with the departure of Jalen Nailor this offseason. Jennings signed a one-year contract worth up to $13 million on May 7 with the Vikings, <a class=\"editor-rtfLink\" href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com\/nfl\/story\/_\/id\/48707658\/vikings-jauan-jennings-agree-1-year-deal-worth-13m\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener external nofollow\">per ESPN NFL insider Adam Schefter<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Last season with the <a href=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/sports\/nfl\/san-francisco-49ers\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">San Francisco 49ers<\/a>, <a class=\"editor-rtfLink\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pff.com\/nfl\/players\/jauan-jennings\/48027\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener external nofollow\">Jennings posted a 68.3 overall PFF grade<\/a>, finishing with 55 catches on 88 targets for 643 yards and nine touchdowns, averaging 11.7 yards per reception. Furthermore, he recorded 180 yards after the catch and had three drops over the course of the season.<\/p>\n<p>As a result, Minnesota are getting a player who is more than capable of being the No. 3 guy on the depth chart.\u00a0On May 8, Vikings head coach Kevin O\u2019Connell spoke with the media and explained why Jennings made sense for them. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen you\u2019re one of the few players who might be single-covered in man-to-man coverage, you\u2019ve got to be able to win,\u201d <a class=\"editor-rtfLink\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=VHuYp1WMcbQ\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener external nofollow\">O\u2019Connell told reporters<\/a>. \u201cYou\u2019ve got to be able to make contested catches, and you\u2019ve got to be able to do something with it after the catch. Jauan does all those things.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think Vikings fans are going to fall in love with watching this guy play football. Just the passion and the physicality that he plays with. You can tell I\u2019m excited about it and can\u2019t wait to get him here.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Jauan Jennings\u2019 Impact on Minnesota\u2019s Run Game<\/p>\n<p>Moreover, Jennings brings more to the Vikings offense than just being another pass catcher. The former 49ers wideout can be a major help in the rushing attack, and O\u2019Connell shared his thoughts on this aspect of the player\u2019s game. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere are some unbelievable clips over the years of him not just doing his job,\u201d O\u2019Connell added. \u201cThat would be a wild understatement. There\u2019s an emphasis with him that he wants to go out and play with a certain style of football that I think we\u2019ve seen at times with different guys over the years, and we\u2019ve kind of pieced the room together in different ways to maximize each guy\u2019s skill set.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat\u2019s what\u2019s so exciting about Jauan. He truly is a combo receiver who can line up on the ball as a single; he can line up in formations with other receivers, stacks, and bunches.\u00a0He understands how it all works together, from marrying the run and the pass and how the jobs you do in the run game can directly lead to targets in different phases of the offense.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Jauan Jennings Gives the Vikings Depth at WR<\/p>\n<p>Last season with the Niners, Jennings was asked to step up due to injuries for Ricky Pearsall and with the situation surrounding <a class=\"wpil_keyword_link\" href=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/nfl\/player\/brandon-aiyuk\/\" title=\"Brandon Aiyuk\" data-wpil-keyword-link=\"linked\" data-wpil-monitor-id=\"255361\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Brandon Aiyuk<\/a>. When San Francisco\u2019s receiver group was tested, Jennings became a steady option for <a class=\"wpil_keyword_link\" href=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/nfl\/player\/brock-purdy\/\" title=\"Brock Purdy\" data-wpil-keyword-link=\"linked\" data-wpil-monitor-id=\"255363\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Brock Purdy<\/a> and helped keep the offense moving.<\/p>\n<p>The Minnesota Vikings already have their top two receivers in place. Nonetheless, if injuries hit, O\u2019Connell now has another layer of trust in the room, knowing Jennings can handle an expanded role and help stabilize the group.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think it\u2019s a matter of a veteran player who has clearly shown on tape over the years that he can make a great impact in multiple roles,\u201d O\u2019Connell said. \u201cIt gives us depth; it gives us the ability to overcome any potential injuries that may pop up along the way. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt also sets a great standard for the room with having Justin Jefferson, Jordan Addison, Jauan Jennings, and then a bunch of really young players we\u2019re really excited about and want to let grow, develop, and compete.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/author\/eddierazo91\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Eduardo Razo<\/a> Eduardo Razo is a sports writer for Heavy.com, covering the NFL, MLB, and college football. He has previously covered the NFL, NBA, NHL, and MLB for NBC Sports Washington and NBC Sports Bay Area &amp; California, and has freelanced for PSG Talk, covering Paris Saint-Germain. He also worked as an editor at Athlon Sports, focusing on MLB and the NFL. <a href=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/author\/eddierazo91\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">More about Eduardo Razo<\/a>\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Getty (Photo by Brace Hemmelgarn\/Getty Images) The Minnesota Vikings went with Jauan Jennings to fill that WR3 role&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":633185,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[67],"tags":[399,398,396,397,99],"class_list":["post-633184","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ncaa-football","tag-football","tag-ncaa","tag-ncaa-football","tag-ncaafootball","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/633184","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=633184"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/633184\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/633185"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=633184"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=633184"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=633184"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}