In swap of first round draft pick wide receivers that have come nowhere close to living up to their potential, A.J. Jenkins was traded from the San Francisco 49ers to the Kansas City Chiefs for wide receiver Jon Baldwin. Jenkins was the 30th overall pick out of Illinois by the Niners in 2012. Baldwin was taken 26th overall by K.C. in 2011.
A.J. Jenkins was a threat to not even make the 49ers at all this season, so maybe a change of pace will be good for him.
Baldwin was expected to be the 2nd WR on the roster behind Dwayne Bowe. On July 29, 2011 he signed a 4-year deal with the Chiefs. In week 2 of the 2011 NFL preseason Baldwin suffered a wrist injury after a locker room fight with teammate Thomas Jones that sidelined him for the rest of the 2011 preseason. He has 41 receptions for 579 yards and 2 TDs in his NFL career.
Although healthy all season, A.J. Jenkins was active for only three of the 49ers 16 regular season games. In his rookie regular season he played in only 37 offensive snaps and was targeted with a pass just once, which he dropped. While with the Illini, he earned most of his NFL Draft stock at the hands of the Northwestern secondary.
A.J. Jenkins had a career-best performance against Northwestern, with 12 catches for 268 yards and three touchdowns. His performance against Northwestern broke the Illinois single-game receiving record, ranks fourth in Big Ten Conference history.
Paul M. Banks is the owner of The Sports Bank.net, an affiliate of Fox Sports. An analyst for 95.7 The Fan, he also writes on Chicago sports media for Chicago Now. President Obama follows him on Twitter (@paulmbanks)