San Francisco 49ers trade A.J. Jenkins to Kansas City Chiefs for Jon Baldwin
By Bryan Rose
Early this morning, the San Francisco 49ers and Kansas City Chiefs decided to alleviate themselves of a problem child but in return, took on another.
According to NFL insider Ian Rapoport, the Niners have traded disappointing wide receiver A.J. Jenkins to the Chiefs in exchange for fellow disappointing wide receiver Jonathan Baldwin, with both clubs hoping a change of scenery will give each player a needed career boost.
Per Rapoport:
"There it is: #Chiefs announce they’ve traded WR Jonathan Baldwin to #49ers for AJ Jenkins. Seeing if new is better for both"
Jenkins, who was a first round selection by the 49ers in 2012 (#30 overall) was nothing short of terrible during his first NFL season. Little had apparently changed through training camp and the first two weeks of preseason and it was looking more and more likely the Niners would eventually cut the wideout.
For Baldwin, he too was facing a similar fate. Reports yesterday stated that Baldwin had fallen towards the bottom of the Chiefs depth chart and he could have been facing a roster spot squeeze in the coming weeks.
Unlike Jenkins, the fellow former first round pick has actually had some small success on the field though, it’s been relatively minimal.