SANTA CLARA, Calif. — Brandon Aiyuk won’t stop catching passes at 49ers training camp.
Yes, that is the third-year wide receiver’s job, but the sheer number of catches he’s made so far in training camp — and the level of difficulty on some of them — has been revelatory.
High passes, low passes, passes in front of him, and passes behind him – Aiyuk is reeling in everything, putting his prodigious and unique 81-inch wingspan to good use.
The 49ers’ defense might be the best in the NFL. The team’s secondary, linebackers, and defensive line can all claim they are elite. It’s not a fun group to practice against if you’re the 49ers’ offense.
But despite the daily dose of defensive excellence, the best player so far in training camp has been Aiyuk.
His breakout might be a bit late for some, but it is here, and it is spectacular.
And it couldn’t come at a better time for the Niners.
A young quarterback’s best friend used to be his offensive line. But in this era of dual-threat quarterbacks and quick passing games, the new must-have for a quarterback like Trey Lance is pass-catching weapons. Just look at Joe Burrow last season or Patrick Mahomes before that.
Now, the Niners have good pass-catchers. Tight end George Kittle and do-it-all receiver Deebo Samuel are both All-Pro options.
But if Aiyuk can do to other defenses what he’s doing to the Niners’ D in training camp — and there’s every reason to believe that will be the case — he looks poised to also to receive that distinction.
Lance has chosen Aiyuk as his favorite target already, a byproduct, surely, of the duo’s offseason work together in Southern California.
But irrespective of Lance’s preference, Niners coach Kyle Shanahan is likely to favor Aiyuk in his play calls, too.
This is the recipe for a monster year.
Shanahan might only be 42 years old, but this is his 15th season as an NFL offensive play caller. The league knows him and his offense (though that doesn’t mean they can stop it). And one of the reputations he has picked up over the years is that he loves calling plays that lead to targets for the X receiver.
Now, much of that reputation of feeding the X receiver stems from Shanahan calling plays for Julio Jones in his prime. You’d have to be a moron not to draw up plays for one of the greatest receivers in NFL history.
But before that, Andre Johnson saw a career-high in targets in Houston, and Pierre Garcon was targeted 181 times in Washington in 2013.
Even in San Francisco, Shanahan has shown love to the widest wide receiver. Emmanuel Sanders saw more than five targets per game after being acquired mid-season in 2019. Going back to Shanahan’s first season as the Niners’ head coach, Marquise Goodwin was targeted 105 times. Goodwin averaged more than 17 yards per catch in that forgettable campaign.
Aiyuk was drafted in the first round to be the next great Shanahan X.
But Shanahan — a wide receiver at Texas with more smarts and drive than ability — coaches that position tough. He tasks them with more responsibility than their peers across the league, and he has shown no patience for lackluster execution.
Aiyuk, Shanahan admits, was held to an even higher standard than his teammates because of his potential to be great at an all-important position — a potential hinted at but never fully codified in his first two years in the league.
“In this offense, it takes a lot [to meet] Kyle’s standards,” Aiyuk said. “It takes a lot on the body.”
Aiyuk said that his body can handle that workload now, and Shanahan agrees that his X receiver is meeting his high standards.
“He comes off the ball every play, he runs full speed every play, he’s not slow-playing stuff anymore. He’s not sitting there and fighting with guys with his hands. He’s doing it with his feet, with his hips, creating edges by running, breaking down,” Shanahan said. “If you want to get open in this league, you have to be so violent on how you run and putting your knees into the ground and everything. — that’s hard on guys. They do that like three days in a row and sometimes they have to take a week off. That’s why it’s so crucial how these guys prepare.
It’s hard when we’re not around him, but B.A. — he did it all when he was away from us, he did it all throughout OTAs and his body can handle everything he’s doing and that’s why he is getting better right now.”
The Niners’ quarterback change — and the increased number of throws to the sidelines that will come with it — and Aiyuk’s offseason work have him poised to fulfill those expectations.
“That’s the work that he put in,” Lance said. “He was locked in this offseason, and I think he had a goal of separating himself and becoming a different player and he’s done that.”
“He’s seeing the game, he’s feeling the game, he’s killing guys right now.”
After catching 56 passes last year, it wouldn’t shock me if Aiyuk came close to doubling that number in 2022. Yes, triple-digit catches are very much on the table for No. 11.
Samuel might have just signed a big contract extension, and Kittle might have more jerseys in Levi’s Stadium’s stands than anyone else, but this season is poised to be Aiyuk’s.
Don’t tell the rest of your fantasy football league.
