The San Francisco 49ers will kick off their season in Week 1 with a game against the Pittsburgh Steelers on the road. Brandon Aiyuk, coming off a banner year, will start alongside Deebo Samuel with Brock Purdy under center. Let’s take a look at Aiyuk’s fantasy value ahead of the 2023 season.
Fantasy Football analysis: 49ers WR Brandon Aiyuk
Aiyuk set career highs in essentially all of his stat columns last season, catching 78 of his 114 targets for 1,015 yards and eight touchdowns through all 17 regular season games. He finished off the preseason in good form, catching 1-of-3 for 35 yards in the preseason finale against the Chargers. He’ll look to improve even further on last season’s performance, though it’ll be a tall order while sharing targets with Deebo Samuel, Christian McCaffrey, and George Kittle.
Start or sit in Week 1 PPR leagues?
Start Brandon Aiyuk in PPR leagues for Week 1.
Target volume will be the main factor to consider week to week when deciding whether to start or sit Aiyuk. Last year with both Deebo Samuel and Christian McCaffrey in the mix, Aiyuk’s target share dropped to 17.9%, which came out to 22.0% throughout the course of the whole season. He still managed to set all those career highs even with the dip in the back half, making him a good option right out of the gate. Keep an eye on his involvement in the passing game for the future, but I’d start him as a WR2 or FLEX option either way in Week 1.
Start or sit in Week 1 standard leagues?
Start Brandon Aiyuk in standard leagues for Week 1.
Aiyuk averaged 8.8 fantasy points per game in standard leagues last season, while his average in PPR leagues came out to 13.4. He averaged 13.0 yards per reception as he totaled 78 catches throughout the season. He’s still a solid option in standard leagues and isn’t completely reliant on PPR scoring to produce great numbers.
Player(s) you would start ahead of Brandon Aiyuk
Aiyu sits in 50th in the FLEX rankings at FantasyPros, coming in at WR28 ahead of the start of the season. There are plenty of great options around him that have similar rankings, including Diontae Johnson, Mike Williams, and Jahan Dotson, who would all probably get the start ahead of Aiyuk for me in Week 1.