Tape talk: shining a light on the 49ers’ unsung hero

Think about the San Francisco 49ers offense. Chances are, your mind probably just went to one of Christian McCaffrey, Brock Purdy, Deebo Samuel, or perhaps even George Kittle. Yet there’s someone you’re missing – the current fulcrum of the 49ers passing attack, Brandon Aiyuk.

Amid a breakout season, Brandon Aiyuk is reaching his pre-draft potential and rapidly ascending as one of the league’s most dangerous weapons through his refined route running, sure hands, and dynamic yards-after-catch ability. On this week’s edition of Tape Talk, we’ll be talking all Brandon Aiyuk, delving into his background, his role in Kyle Shanahan’s scheme, and how he’s making his case for belonging among the league’s top receivers.

Underrecruited throughout high school, Aiyuk only received offers from a few Mountain West programs before they dropped him due to poor grades. He went the JUCO route at Sierra College, a school with just over 18,000 students located on the outskirts of Sacramento.

Clearly playing below his level, Aiyuk dominated as an all-purpose player, playing both receiver and corner while also returning kicks. He started and earned All-Conference honors as a true freshman, was named JUCO All-American after a stellar sophomore season, and finished his career at Sierra College with 2,499 all-purpose yards and 21 touchdowns.

After two impressive campaigns at Sierra, Aiyuk received FBS offers from Mountain West programs again before committing to Arizona State after an offer just a few days before signing day. He spent most of his first year in Tempe on the bench yet burst onto the scene during his second year as a full-time starter, finishing with 1,192 yards on 68 targets and earning a first-team All-Pac-12 selection.

Come draft time, Aiyuk had made a name for himself as an explosive, big-play weapon due to his YAC ability and vertical speed. Here he is, for example, catching a game-winning touchdown from Jayden Daniels (yes, LSU’s 2023 Heisman winner Jayden Daniels) to help the Sun Devils overcome Oregon in 2019.

Due to his ability after the catch, draft analysts quickly paired Aiyuk to the San Francisco 49ers and Kyle Shanahan’s West Coast, YAC-centric offense come draft season, a prospective marriage that perfectly came to fruition during draft night after San Francisco traded up to No. 25 overall to select him.

Aiyuk was a reliable starter during his first three years in San Francisco, finishing all three seasons with over 700 pass yards and five touchdowns on 80-plus targets, yet he was never in the spotlight. Playing in a loaded offense chock-full of All-Pro level talent, he was relegated to a supporting role schematically by Kyle Shanahan and deemed an afterthought by the local and national media.

That’s changed dramatically this season, with Aiyuk currently the 49ers’ leading receiver.  Through thirteen weeks, he leads the team in targets (72), receiving yards (927), and yards per reception (18.5), and is second in passer rating when targeted (128.2). Individually, he’s also on pace for his most productive NFL season yet, projected to finish with a career-high 1,313 yards and nine touchdowns on 71 receptions, per ESPN.

Aiyuk’s increased production has come as the result of Kyle Shanahan’s reliance on him to serve as the team’s primary receiving option. In years past, the 49ers’ passing attack has been built around George Kittle or Deebo Samuel, with Aiyuk acting as a secondary option. This year, the roles have reversed. Aiyuk is often tasked to win down the field as the primary read on passing concepts, while players like Kittle, Deebo, and Christian McCaffrey are schemed open underneath where they can get the ball quickly and create after the catch.

This is not to say that players like McCaffrey, Kittle, and Samuel never run routes down the field, or that Aiyuk is never schemed open; the 49ers offense is an incredibly varied unit that thrives by using its personnel in different and innovative ways Sunday after Sunday. However, on average, Aiyuk has been deployed as the alpha, tasked with beating No.1 corners and getting open as the primary read on intermediate and deep passing concepts  – through thirteen weeks, he has recorded the highest average depth of target and highest yards before the catch numbers among all 49ers skill players at 14.3 and 13.7 yards, respectively.

But this is Aiyuk’s fourth season with the 49ers, and he’s finally ascending into the premier player of the team’s passing attack, so what’s changed?

His route running and hands. Aiyuk has developed into one of the scariest route runners in the league, which, combined with the cleaning up of previous drop issues, has allowed him to become an incredibly reliable number-one option.

Let’s start with his route running, beginning at the line of scrimmage with his release and ability to deal with early contact from defensive backs and jams (a technique used by cornerbacks to press the receiver’s chest and disrupt their release). Most critiques in Aiyuk’s game in 2022 and prior came with his supposed inability to separate off the line when jammed, yet he’s shown tremendous improvement this year, displaying the ability to beat most jams at the line of scrimmage either through excellent lateral agility and foot quickness or advanced hand-fighting ability.

Watch this Week 11 rep against the Tampa Bay Buccanneers, for example. Bucs cornerback Zyon McCollum, lined up in press against Aiyuk, tries early contact, yet Aiyuk evades it with extraordinary lateral agility and foot quickness, proceeding to win on a dig route.

Or how about this Week 8 play against the Cincinnati Bengals, where Aiyuk utilizes a swat move to neutralize Bengals corner Cam Taylor Britt’s s jam and push him off to pull away on the crosser?

Those are two examples of Aiyuk winning early in the route, yet there’s a myriad more of him winning afterward against both man and zone coverage.

He thrives against man, both off and press, where he can beat defenders using his excellent athletic ability, technique, and physicality to create separation on all three levels on both speed and hard-cut routes.

Watch this third-quarter rep against former All-Pro cornerback Stephon Gilmore in Week 5′s San Francisco 49ers vs. Dallas Cowboys matchup, for example. Gilmore is ten yards back, in an off alignment, so Aiyuk explodes off the line with great speed, covering ground quickly and selling a  vertical route with his eyes before showing tremendous foot quickness and burst to pull away from the Cowboys DB on the speed cut and finish the post route.

He can win when pressed, too, as we saw during those clips of him beating jams. His play strength and physical toughness have taken a jump from last season, and he is showing the ability to consistently fight off jams early, remain balanced through contact with good core strength, or win through subtle push-offs at the top of the route to create separation.

Aiyuk showcases the ability to use his athleticism, technique, and physicality to separate against Man coverage, yet he’s also a fine separator against a zone, showing the football IQ to understand zones and settle at the appropriate depth.

Watch him on this corner route in his matchup against the Bengals, for example. The Bengals are running a Cover 2 look, meaning the deep safety will backpedal to protect his half while the corner settles in the flat to cover any underneath routes. Noticing this, Aiyuk runs his corner route at perfect depth before willingly staying between the corner and safety to allow Brock Purdy to hit the honey hole shot (term used for a quarterback’s throw between the corner and safety in Cover 2).

Overall, Aiyuk has been a complete route runner this year, and it shows. Through thirteen weeks, he ranks fourth among all NFL receivers in receiving success rate (68.1%). His combination of athleticism, technique, physicality, and football IQ have cemented him as one of the best route runners in football.

Another positive trait that has elevated Aiyuk into elite consideration is his highly reliable hands. On tape, he shows the dexterity to extend for balls in front of him and the body control and flexibility to adjust to balls above and below his frame, enabling him to catch basically anything thrown at him – through thirteen games, his drop rate of 2.8% is the lowest of his career.

Furthermore, Aiyuk has also shown improved concentration and play strength to make tough catches over the shoulder and hang on to catches through traffic, currently boasting a career-high 69.4% catch percentage, the highest of his career. Watch him on this rep in Week 12′s Thanksgiving matchup versus the Seattle Seahawks, perfectly tracking a beautiful ball from quarterback Brock Purdy between three defenders and showing late hands before having the concentration and contact balance to hang on to the football through a hit from safety Julian Love.

Now, let’s talk about where Aiyuk has made money from his Sierra days to today: YAC. Aiyuk has been a notorious YAC threat throughout his career, yet this year, he’s quietly outgrown that label as he’s polished his route running and ascended to become the 49ers’ wide receiver one. According to Pro Football Reference, his 13.7 yards before the catch this season is the highest number of his career, while his yards after the catch per reception has dropped by a whole point from where it was his Sophomore season (4.9 vs. 6.2 respectively).

This is not a product of Aiyuk’s ability but more about his responsibility in the 49ers scheme, as discussed earlier. When called upon to win after the catch, however, the former Sun Devil is still a formidable threat due to his smooth catching motion, which enables him to get vertical and eat up yards almost instantly, and extraordinary field vision in the open field to evade defenders.

Watch him on this first-quarter rep during Week 1′s 49ers vs. Steelers matchup. Aiyuk catches the ball on a dig route in the middle of the field, yet where most receivers would waste a second focusing on catching the ball and then turning upfield, Aiyuk shows the concentration and natural catching motion to haul the ball in as he’s running and continue to do so through the catch, enabling him to get vertical quicker and add an extra five to seven yards to the play.

Let’s pivot to this second-quarter play against the Buccanneers. Aiyuk beats Bucs corner Carlton Davis on a dig route with physicality, flashes those smooth hands and easy catching motion which enable him to turn upfield quickly and then shows the field vision to take the play around the sideline rather than vertical, helping him add extra yards to the play.

This is how Aiyuk wins after the catch. He may not be a bulldozer and tackle-breaking monster like his teammate Deebo Samuel or an electric dancer in the open field like, say, Tyreek Hill or Zay Flowers, yet he wins through subtle movements and extraordinary field vision which perfectly position him to gain extra yards.

There really haven’t been many holes to poke in Aiyuk’s game during the 2023 season. The three most important attributes for a receiver are route running, hands and YAC, and Aiyuk has been elite in all three facets. With that said, it should be noted that Aiyuk benefits from playing for a historic offense filled with All-Pro talent and one of the greatest offensive masterminds in football calling plays. Passing concepts are engineered to perfection, and with defenses having to account for the entirety of the 49ers’ deadly lineup, Aiyuk is thus less double-teamed or schemed against than many of the elite receivers in the league like Tyreek Hill, Davante Adams, or Justin Jefferson.

There is that big question on how Aiyuk would fare if he were dropped in as the true No. 1 guy for a lesser team, yet this is purely hypothetical and shouldn’t count against him, as it’s something he can’t control. Moreover, as we established, he’s the engine of his elite 49ers’ passing attack this year, enabling it to rank first in net yards per attempt (8.5) through the air and top ten in total pass yards (3061) and touchdowns (23).

Overall, Aiyuk has completed his development this 2023 season as the premier receiver the 49ers thought they drafted in 2020. Through his refined route-running prowess and improved hands, he’s evolved from being a mere “YAC threat” to one of the most complete receivers in the league and a potential franchise cornerstone for San Francisco. The former Sun Devil has looked like a top-ten receiver this fall, and it’s time for the media to give him his flowers. If the 49ers end up hoisting the Lombardi two months from now, Aiyuk will undoubtedly be a massive reason as to why.