It’s a wild scrum with the rookie wide receivers. There’s a whole bunch of good ones, with some of the less-heralded options have the potential to wind up being the best of the class. That’s a group that definitely includes Brandon Aiyuk of the 49ers.
San Francisco wanted Aiyuk badly, trading up to get him late in the first round. At Arizona State, he looked a lot like another receiver the 49ers already have – Deebo Samuel. They both are thickly built, with the ability to work in traffic, break tackles, and handle the ball on end-arounds.
Kyle Shanahan says Aiyuk was his favorite pass catcher in the draft. He didn’t use the word best, but they really liked him. Shanahan indicated Aiyuk and CeeDee Lamb were at the top of San Francisco’s list of wide receivers.
Shanahan hasn’t been super reliable on this front in the past, of course. He talked up Joe Williams a few years back; Williams isn’t even in the league. And Shanahan last year gushed on and on about Jalen Hurd, saying that he could have been a first-round pick as a wide receiver, tight end or a running back. Too early to draw conclusions on Hurd, but he missed all of his first year with a back injury.
But Shanahan has a good track record of being able to get numbers out of his wide receivers. During his career as a coach and coordinator, he’s had three different wide receivers who’ve had 100-catch seasons. It helps to work with wide receivers like Andre Johnson and Julio Jones, of course, but Pierre Garcon also caught 113 passes in one season working with Shanahan.
Samuel had a great rookie year. To me, he looks like a breakout-type guy. And I’ll also have an interest in their other starting wide receiver. I’m thinking that probably will be either Hurd or Aiyuk. Aiyuk is probably more talented and heralded, while Hurd has the advantage of having been around for a year.
| KYLE SHANAHAN'S LEADING RECEIVERS | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Player | No | Yards | Avg | TD |
| 2008 | Andre Johnson, Hou. | 115 | 1,575 | 13.7 | 8 |
| 2009 | Andre Johnson, Hou. | 101 | 1,569 | 15.5 | 9 |
| 2010 | Santana Moss, Was. | 93 | 1,115 | 12.0 | 6 |
| 2011 | Jabar Gaffney, Was. | 68 | 947 | 13.9 | 5 |
| 2012 | Pierre Garcon, Was. | 44 | 633 | 14.4 | 5 |
| 2013 | Pierre Garcon, Was. | 113 | 1,346 | 11.9 | 5 |
| 2014 | Andrew Hawkins, Cle. | 63 | 824 | 13.1 | 2 |
| 2015 | Julio Jones, Atl. | 136 | 1,871 | 13.8 | 9 |
| 2016 | Julio Jones, Atl. | 83 | 1,409 | 17.0 | 6 |
| 2017 | Marquise Goodwin, S.F. | 56 | 962 | 17.2 | 2 |
| 2018 | Kendrick Bourne, S.F. | 42 | 487 | 11.6 | 4 |
| 2019 | Deebo Samuel, S.F. | 57 | 802 | 14.1 | 6 |
—Ian Allan