It hurts to say, but constantly hurt Jennings can’t stay

By Anthony Bialy  |   Wednesday, April 23, 2008  |  Comments( 3 )

San Francisco 49ers
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Jonas Jennings is great, when he’s around. But that doesn’t happen with any frequency. The habitually injured offensive lineman can’t stay on the field, a harmful tendency that is persistent enough to force the Niners into considering replacing him very early this weekend at the draft. Talent is nothing without health, and the man who could have been a keystone for San Francisco on the line is unwell often enough to make left tackle a need position.

There’s no question that Jennings possesses the gifts to excel as an elite player: He has only allowed 16 sacks over his career, 7.5 of which were permitted in 2002 when he was blocking for the atrociously immobile Drew Bledsoe. Further, the tackle has started each of the 73 games in which he’s participated. The problem is that he could have potentially played 112 times over his seven seasons; he’s been on the shelf for 39 contests, an alarmingly substantial amount equal to 35 percent of his team’s games. Either mathematical approach makes it sound like a huge amount of time.

Last season was indicative of the way Jennings’ career has unfolded: After being absent for an outing because of personal reasons, he was eventually sent to injured reserve with ankle woes, appearing in an unsurprisingly low five games. This team is growing accustomed to that. The Niners had to be disappointed when he kicked off the seven-year, $36 million contract by playing a total of three 2005 games, missing the rest of the time with a bum shoulder.

Unfortunately, it’s nothing new for the Georgia product, a physical marvel who is somehow also simultaneously quite fragile. His ailment list while with Buffalo would have impressed the late Evel Knievel: Foot, hip, leg, and hand wounds in addition to previous shoulder and ankle issues all kept him from playing at various times over his four seasons as a Bill.

Getting hurt once or twice could be rough luck. But it’s clear that, despite his aptitude at blocking, particularly in pass protection, Jennings doesn’t also possess the skill of avoiding injury. Aside from the cost, the primary reason Buffalo was willing to let a supremely talented left tackle leave is that it doubted he would ever be able to live up to the player’s responsibility to remain generally robust enough to consistently make the game-day roster. It’s something he simply couldn’t manage and still isn’t managing.

San Francisco could obviously use an able-bodied Jennings, not just generally thanks to his prodigious gifts but also specifically because it suffered immensely without his steady presence on the line’s left end. The Niners finished tied with Kansas City for worst in the league at sacks allowed, as each team let it happen 55 times.

The trend that’s become the theme of Jennings’ career sadly means that it’s unlikely the 49ers will be granted the luxury that would be a full season of his services to prevent such rotten protection conditions, which leads to tackle emerging as one of the top three and maybe the top concern for San Francisco to address at the draft.

Receiver is a tempting draft option, and the Niners should nab one at some moderately early point. But the relative shallowness of the wideout class combined with the Bryant Johnson acquisition mean that they can put it off until at least the second round; also, while they shouldn’t be counting on the aging Isaac Bruce to play like he did at the century’s turn, his presence still fortifies the position.

The Niners could also add a linebacker draftee who could potentially start by September, but there’s a more pressing concern on other side of the ball: Their thorough inability to hold back rushers will ruin any attempts to improve the passing game by the same time. A fine player during his fairly rare moments playing, Jennings is unfit so routinely that he can’t be counted upon to be part of this team’s renaissance, which is the best reason to pick up his intended replacement before dealing with any other needs.
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