The San Francisco 49ers selected Arizona State wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk with the 25th overall pick in the first round of the 2020 NFL Draft on Thursday evening.
Aiyuk (6-0, 205 pounds) ran a 40-yard dash in 4.5 seconds and bench-pressed 225 pounds 11 times at the combine earlier this offseason. NFL.com’s Lance Zierlein has compared Aiyuk to Robert Woods, who was a second-round pick in the 2012 NFL Draft.
“He needs more polish, but his ability to create yards after catch could get him some early reps while he’s still developing,” Zierlein wrote of Aiyuk before the draft. “He has the potential to develop into a WR3.”
During his two years with the Sun Devils, Aiyuk caught 98 passes for 1,666 yards and 11 touchdowns. He had a breakout season in 2019, totaling 65 receptions for 1,192 yards and eight touchdowns.
Aiyuk was the seventh-best wide receiver in this year’s class, according to Luke Easterling’s rankings for Draft Wire. TCU’s Jalen Reagor, Baylor’s Denzel Mims and LSU’s Justin Jefferson were among the players that Draft Wire had ranked higher than Aiyuk.
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