NFL 'MNF' player prop: New Niners No. 1

Two of the defending NFC division winners will square off on Monday night when Minnesota hosts San Francisco. Although both teams posted 13-4 records a season ago, only the 49ers have built on that success, opening this campaign by going 5-1. The disappointing Vikings have already matched last year’s number of losses, and as they look to avoid a 2-5 start, we’re expecting a playmaker on the other side to deliver our top prop:

The bet: Over 70½ receiving yards for 49ers wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk (DraftKings)

A 2020 first-round pick out of Arizona State, Aiyuk has increased his yardage total with each successive season. After narrowly crossing the millennial mark last year, he’s on pace for more than 1,450 yards here in 2023.

Despite hurting a shoulder in one game and sitting out the next, Aiyuk has considerably outproduced fellow wideout Deebo Samuel, who will now be sidelined with a shoulder injury of his own. To get a sense of how that dynamic affects the offense, we need only look back at last season, when Aiyuk comfortably cleared this number in three of the four games that Samuel missed.