Brandon Aiyuk’s fit with the 49ers is easy to track. Head coach Kyle Shanahan is among the NFL’s best play designers when it comes to generating space for his pass catchers. Aiyuk was one of the best players in college football last year at dominating in space. He averaged a national-high 9.9 yards after the catch.
Aiyuk can take screens and slants and turn them into chunk plays. The marriage between Shanahan and a player with his skill set makes a lot of sense. There’s another aspect to Aiyuk’s game that made him such a desirable target for San Francisco that they traded up six spots in the first round to draft him.
Doug Farrar of Touchdown Wire pointed out a stat that indicates Aiyuk will bring more to the table than after-the-catch ability:
The 49ers were close to a Super Bowl win at the end of the 2019 season despite a relative lack of deep targets for quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo. It’s one reason they took Aiyuk out of Arizona State with the 25th overall pick. In 2019, Aiyuk totaled 384 yards on passes of 20 or more air yards despite just 19 deep targets. You can expect more for him in Kyle Shanahan’s offense.
San Francisco badly needed a field-stretching presence last year. Emmanuel Sanders could do that some, but he’s past his prime. Aiyuk should be able to offer a more explosive downfield threat for Garoppolo if his college numbers are any indication.
It may take awhile for him to settle into that role though, especially with a truncated offseason. There’ll be more screens, quick throws and jet sweeps to get the ball in Aiyuk’s hands early as he acclimates to his new offense.
Once his role expands though, it’ll surely include more deep routes where he pushes the defense vertically.
His production as a deep target also fits what Shanahan said about Aiyuk’s speed. He’s faster than his 4.5 40-yard dash at the combine. Shanahan said Aiyuk had one of the fastest 10-yard splits in the class, and he was among the fastest receivers according to the team’s GPS tracking data.
While Garoppolo might’ve missed a deep throw to Sanders in the Super Bowl, don’t expect the team to stop taking shots down the field, especially with a player like Aiyuk on the outside.
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