When news broke that the San Francisco 49ers showed interest in reacquiring Jauan Jennings in a trade with the Minnesota Vikings, but the veteran wide receiver effectively vetoed it, it his fans in Santa Clara a certain way.

Sure, things didn't end the best for Jennings in California, but why not mend that bridge, get the band back together, and really give a serious Super Bowl push another go?

Well, on Wednesday, Shanahan was asked about the Jennings reports and laid out his side of the story, revealing that he did talk to JJ, and it was productive, even if they mutually agreed that a trade wasn't the right decision at this point.

“Not really. I mean, it wasn't, the report was accurate, just not totally, exactly detailed up. I mean, you can't talk to other players on other teams. You're not allowed to. We love Jauan. We have such a good relationship with Jauan. I know him real well. And we didn't want to, we didn't want to do it without talking to him first. So we had to agree on some things to at least make it close enough to be able to talk to him,” Shanahan said.

“And then when we got on a FaceTime with JJ, it went well. It was awesome. We talked about a lot of stuff, and he ended up saying that he was happy with where he was. It wasn't just like a definite no at first, but he was like, ‘Man, Kyle, I'm pretty happy here and liking stuff.’ And when I heard the way he talked and where we're at, I agreed with him. So it was a good conversation and something that was possible, but that's why I didn't go down.”

#49ers HC Kyle Shanahan said that he talked to Jauan Jennings “for awhile” after both teams talked about a trade, and JJ told him that liked where he was at in Minnesota. pic.twitter.com/3kBHRLvu88

— VikingzFanPage (@vikingzfanpage) November 4, 2026

So does Shanahan believe there's ill will between Jennings and the 49ers for how his tenure came to an end? No, if anything, he seemed to enjoy their conversation and agreed that keeping him in a situation he enjoyed was the correct call.

“No, it wasn't all like that. It was actually, it was JJ. FaceTime,” Shanahan said. “He just got back to Tennessee and was with his family and kids, and it was a good talk, but he's with good people. He likes where he's at, and I thought he made sense of what he said, and I agreed with him.”

In Minnesota, Jennings isn't exactly off to the best start, appearing in six games with just two starts while catching six of the 10 balls thrown his way for 54 yards. Still, at best, he would be WR3 in San Francisco right now and might see his role shrink even further when players like De'Zhaun Stribling are able to return. If the 49ers want to add another offensive weapon before the trade deadline, which Shanahan noted is always an option, it sounds like San Francisco will have to look elsewhere unless something changes dramatically over the next week.