After spending the summer more concerned with dollars and cents than Xs and Os, Brandon Aiyuk had an incredibly uneventful return to the field for the San Francisco 49ers in Week 1, catching just two of the four passes sent his way by Brock Purdy for four yards and no touchdowns.
Now granted, some of this wasn't too surprising, as Aiyuk looked understandably rusty in his big return game, but after becoming a top-five wide receiver with his new $120 million contract, it makes sense that some fans might be in their feelings about what they saw from the Arizona State product.
One such member of Niners Nation who wasn't particularly proud of Aiyuk's efforts? Well, that would be Aiyuk himself, who told reporters that he was actually afraid to watch his Monday Night Football efforts because of his less-than-elite stat line, even if those numbers didn't tell the whole story.
“After the game, I didn't watch the film until this morning. I was a little bit scared to watch it, but (it was) not as bad as I thought,” Brandon Aiyuk admitted. “Yeah, I was scared to watch it.”
In the NFL, one of the few positions that can't control its own destiny is wide receiver, as a player can do everything right and just never get a ball thrown their way. While Aiyuk did look a little rusty, he was also clearly a focal point of Robert Saleh, who knows firsthand how good he can be due to his deep-rooted connection to the 49ers, so that certainly didn't help his efforts either. Throw that all together and you have a recipe for exactly what happened in Week 1.
After watching back the tape, taking note of what he did well and poorly, and making the requisite adjustments to his efforts, who knows, maybe Week 2 will be Aiyuk's big chance to shine, as even if the Minnesota Vikings are 1-0 after securing a tight win over the Las Vegas Raiders, they still have a below-average secondary.
Follow Us
Subscribe
