Kurtenbach: It’s too late for anyone to win Jauan Jennings’ showdown with the 49ers

So is Jauan Jennings going to clock in at work on Monday Does it even matter at this point Welcome to Week of the NFL season where the ers are for the third straight season dealing with a high-profile utterly avoidable contract-related distraction This is not the clean slate this squad promised after a six-win season No this has all the hallmarks of the same tired movie we saw in and Though this time I m not sure the Niners are the villain And I definitely don t expect Kyle Shanahan to be running through the facility Tom Cruise-style as part of a dramatic climax Related Articles Best division in football Emerging down how the ers stack up against their NFC West rivals Two wide receivers and no punter the ers work-in-progress roster shows its flaws Kurtenbach Jake Moody s latest misses should seal his ers fate ers Studs and Duds Niners end preseason with more questions than answers The ers are panic-buying to cover their roster-building mistakes Yes this showdown is different and frankly less central Because while prior down-to-the-wire contract fiascos involved top-of-the-line players Trent Williams Nick Bosa and Brandon Aiyuk this one does not Don t get me wrong Jennings is a winning contestant an asset to any club he d be on But he s a situational member on a contract that pays him like one asking for every-down money from a club that s already decided he s not an every-down guy The ers didn t just stumble into this standoff They ve been planning for Jennings exit since February This gang s entire offseason was about correcting past mistakes namely the kind of budget-busting contracts that created nearly million in dead money Paying big money to role players is how you get into that mess in the first place The front office right now regretted Brandon Aiyuk s contract and he was a bonafide proven No receiver Jennings is a No who didn t lead the company in receptions or crack yards last year San Francisco has spent the last sparse months insulating itself for the loss of Jennings an exceptional depth piece Ricky Pearsall Jordan Watkins Demarcus Robinson they can all be No s and s Pearsall can step up and be the No until Aiyuk returns You can disagree with that assessment of Jennings by the Niners but you can t deny that the assessment was made They might be heading into the season but they ve been solely focused on and beyond There s no scenario they envisioned where Jennings was a part of it I don t think Jennings sees that He makes great plays on the field but off the field he s botched rep after rep A big part of his so-called leverage is the ers current injury plague at wide receiver The club demands bodies right Well he s hurt too right Even if he evidenced up in the next 24 hours he hasn t been running He s weeks away from playing at full speed By the time he reaches that level Robinson or Watkins could be back Aiyuk will return at several point this season The window where the Niners were truly utterly desperate for him to be on the field is closing if it hasn t slammed shut already And it brings us back to the critical error in this Jennings saga In football much like life timing is everything Jennings timing with this was all off Related Articles ers defense can feast on Sunday buffet of mediocre quarterbacks Why Marques Sigle could be the ers biggest early-impact rookie ers bring back defensive tackle Evan Anderson to practice squad Best division in football Emerging down how the ers stack up against their NFC West rivals San Jose focusing on resident fan experiences with Super Bowl March Madness and World Cup approaching The time to ask for a business and a new contract was in the winter The ers could have flipped him to a association willing to pay him selected franchise that didn t watch him get shut down by press coverage in the second half of last season The Niners would have gotten their precious draft capital Jennings would have gotten his bag Everyone would have won Instead Jennings waited Now he s an injured disgruntled pending free agent with zero pact value He s torpedoed his own worth Leaving us all watching a staring contest where neither side looks likely to blink The ers made their decision on Jennings a long time ago This saga is regrettable but it was also inevitable Jennings on the other hand is stuck on a club that won t pay him nursing an injury that allegedly keeps him from proving he s worth paying He misread the room mismanaged his timing and picked a fight he was never going to win So how does this end The only way it can now with both righteously indignant parties losing The ers will likely win the contractual war but in the process they ll be without a tough wubbubg contestant they could have really used for a big Week event In all likelihood they ll also lose Jennings indomitable spirit too But in this showdown Jennings will just lose money reps and with the Niners leaking unflattering negotiation details in newest days respect It s a lose-lose It s too late for anything else