49ers Have Perfect WR Trade Target After Jauan Jennings Injury
Tell me where you've heard this before: the San Francisco 49ers just lost another player to injury, as wide receiver Jauan Jennings banged up his shoulder during the 49ers' Week 1 win over the Seattle Seahawks.
Oh, and tight end George Kittle left with a hamstring injury, too, leaving the cupboard of weapons pretty bare for quarterback Brock Purdy.
The 49ers are already without Brandon Aiyuk, who is still recovering from a torn ACL he suffered last season, so basically, Purdy has Ricky Pearsall and not a whole lot else at his disposal in the passing game right now.
San Francisco almost certainly needs to make a move here, and a perfect trade target may have just surfaced for the club: New York Jets receiver Allen Lazard.
Lazard was a healthy scratch for the Jets in their season opener, a clear indication that he is not in their plans moving forward. He is in the final year of his deal, so New York also has no obligation to him beyond 2025. That means trading the veteran now obviously makes sense.
With Jennings potentially out for a bit, the Niners could definitely stand to add another big-bodied pass-catcher to comprise a red-zone target for Purdy, and with Lazard standing at 6-foot-5, he certainly fits the bill.
Even if Jennings is able to play as soon as next weekend, it would still strongly behoove the 49ers to acquire Lazard. Let's face it: San Francisco needs wide receiver depth. Badly.
Lazard caught 37 passes for 530 yards and six touchdowns as recently as last year, so he remains a productive player. It's true that he has not proven much outside of Aaron Rodgers, but it seems hard to imagine that he would simply forget how to catch the ball without Rodgers throwing it to him.
The Niners could probably bag Lazard for the cheap cost of a seventh-round pick, and he only carries a $4.6 million cap hit for 2025 after taking a pay cut with New York during the offseason. It seems pretty clear that the Jets are done with him, so if they are able to recoup any asset in exchange for Lazard, it's very likely that they would pull the trigger.
The best part for the 49ers is that they wouldn't have to wait until the trade deadline to get a deal done. They could place a call to New York right now and probably hammer out a quick deal.
San Francisco should be getting on this potential trade immediately.
Giants avoid the worst with Micah McFadden injury after terrifying Week 1 scene
Contrary to popular opinion, not everything that happened in the Week 1 loss was the worst-case scenario for the Giants.
Linebacker Micah McFadden, who initially was feared to have suffered a season-ending injury when he was carted off the field with an air cast on his right leg in the first quarter against the Commanders, was back on the sideline during the second half.
McFadden was undergoing further testing Monday on his leg and foot before a recovery timeline could be established.
If McFadden is going to be week to week, he could land on injured reserve for a minimum of four weeks.
“I think he thought when he was out there laying on the ground that he broke his leg,” head coach Brian Daboll said. “I know he didn’t do that, but getting some other things looked at here.”
The Giants turned to Darius Muasau — a 2024 draft pick who has drawn high praise internally — to play 38 snaps in place of McFadden.
On Muasau’s second play off the bench, Jayden Daniels targeted him in coverage for a 7-yard touchdown pass to Zach Ertz.
“Man, seeing Micah go down was bad,” edge Brian Burns said. “That’s a tough loss. People don’t know how valuable he is to this defense. He flies under the radar a lot, but Micah is a baller. I just hope his injury isn’t too serious.’’
McFadden is coming off back-to-back 100-tackle seasons and is playing for a contract in 2026.
Punter Jamie Gillan handled the opening kickoff before kicker Graham Gano reclaimed his usual duty for the next two kickoffs.
The second-year NFL dynamic kickoff rules force teams to land returnable kickoffs between the 20-yard line and goal line or put the kicking team’s defense in a bind by giving up better starting position.
“Jamie is good at some of those kicks with this new kickoff rule and where to put it,” Daboll said. “We’ve been working on that between Jamie and Graham on kickoffs, particularly for that first game.”
