It has been a frustrating start to the 2024 season for Brandon Aiyuk.
Following several turbulent months of contract negotiations in which his 49ers’ future seemed in serious doubt, Aiyuk ultimately signed a four-year lucrative deal. The 26-year-old missed training camp and has been playing catch-up due to the contract situation.
Through the opening two games of the season, Aiyuk has tallied just six receptions for 71 yards. These 13.1 total fantasy points on DraftKings DFS scoring ranks 61st among all wide receivers so far this season.
While he has undoubtedly underperformed so far this year, this can be looked at in two ways. Some will accept this as a down year and some will believe his best football is still to be played.
This is a potential opportunity to be created by attempting to trade with less patient fantasy football owners. Brandon Aiyuk has eclipsed 1,000 receiving yards in the past two seasons and tallied 15 combined touchdowns across these two seasons. Expect him to get back to this level of production and work to get him on your roster before his stock rises.
Brandon Aiyuk Fantasy Football Outlook
Looking back at last season, Aiyuk tallied 1,342 receiving yards and seven touchdowns. This made him the 14th-best receiver, as he averaged 16.9 fantasy points per game.
He started this season with just two receptions in the opening game. This is fewer than any game that he logged in the 2023 season.
While the importance of training camp and preseason continues to be minimized, there still is no replacement for playing live football. The lack of reps or time around the team was his own doing, but still fair to connect it to his early struggles. This also is likely the driving reason for reduced usage in the early weeks.
Looking ahead, the 49ers need to find a way to generate more offense. While they impressed in their opening week against the Jets, San Francisco was held to just 17 points last week against the Vikings. The 49ers will not be looked at as true contenders until they can revitalize the offense and Aiyuk will be vital to doing this.
San Francisco is already fighting off the injury bug to start the season. Christian McCaffrey is on IR and set to miss at least four weeks due to the ankle/Achilles issue he entered the season with. Deebo Samuel is also dealing with a calf issue that has him ruled out for this week and could expand to the weeks moving forward. On top of this, George Kittle was downgraded to out for the Week 3 matchup due to a hamstring injury he sustained mid-week.
After putting it off for as long as they possibly could, the 49ers paid Brandon Aiyuk for a reason. The team desperately needs his level of production and will look to open up the playbook for their playmaker. The slow start to the season is understandable, but Aiyuk has proven who he is as a football player at this point and injuries have pushed him to the forefront of the pecking order within the offense.
Expect the first two weeks of the season to be a footnote in an excellent season as Aiyuk flips the script from here. While the injuries will decrease moving forward, his need within the offense is clear. San Francisco’s offense has a different feel to it when Aiyuk is rolling and it is in the best interest of both sides to get to this point.
Don’t miss the boat and do what it takes to get Brandon Aiyuk in your lineups before the tide turns.
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