The fourth-year WR out of Arizona State has been a monster with the ball in his hands in the Kyle Shanahan-led 49ers offense, but he took his game to another level this season that leaves us wondering just how good he could be in an offense that’s not as loaded with target competition as San Francisco’s.
Brandon Aiyuk absolutely dominated when he saw the ball, posting a ridiculous 3.01 yards per route run in 2023 – second only to Tyreek Hill, who paced the position at 3.81. What’s more, though, is Aiyuk’s absurd 18.3 yards per reception – a number that led the league this year among WRs with 80 or more targets and contributed to the aforementioned yards per route run number. Maybe the most hilarious stat of them all, though, is that Aiyuk was the only wide receiver this season to surpass 1000 yards receiving with less than 100 targets – and he had 1317 (lmao).
Despite those mind-boggling per-touch numbers, Aiyuk finished as just the overall WR13 in fantasy points scored. So what gives? For one, the target competition in San Francisco is extreme. Including Aiyuk, three 49ers players were able to register a 20+% target share (Deebo and Kittle being the other two), while CMC also logged an 18% target share on his own. Aiyuk’s targets per route run numbers also lag significantly behind the league’s best WRs at just 22%, which begs the question: if Brandon Aiyuk was the clear-cut WR1 on another offense, just how good could he be?