Rookie Jenkins inks 4-year deal with 49ers

A lukewarm rookie mini-camp performance wasn’t enough to weed out the 49ers first-round draft pick from the pre-season wide receiver race.

Just a little over a month before training camp opens, the Niners signed rookie A.J. Jenkins to a four-year, $6.9 million deal.

Jenkins had 90 catches for 1,276 yards and eight touchdowns at Illinois during his senior year alone. He had 19 TD passes and returned 33 kick-off returns for 773 yards and a touchdown. His catching yardage is the second-highest in the school’s history.

49ers beat writers and bloggers had been reporting that Jenkins looked green during team workouts, dropping passes and having trouble keeping his feet under him.

But the deal shows that the franchise has faith in the rookie to develop over time. Jenkins will compete with Randy Moss, Mario Manningham, Kyle Williams, Ted Ginn Jr. and Michael Crabtree for playing time this season.

The Har-Badger was not present yesterday to make any comments on Jenkins’ signing, however, as he is currently building houses down in Peru. We’ll have to wait for his return to hear what quotable gems he’ll think up about Jenkins’ contract signing.