Well, this is a little crazy.
Pro Football Focus has surprisingly listed 49ers' Brandon Aiyuk as a top 32 wide receiver in the NFL. Aiyuk is placed as a tier-4 receiver at No. 19 overall in the ranking. Here is their breakdown.
"Aiyuk was one of the NFL’s top receivers in 2023, finishing with a 92.3 receiving grade and an outstanding 18.0 yards per reception as one of the league’s premier deep threats. However, his efficiency and production dipped in 2024, and he now enters the upcoming season fresh off ACL and MCL tears."
Aiyuk's significant injury is why it's a little crazy and surprising that he is listed as the No. 19 wide receiver in the league.
He needs to be a lot lower than that. There is no telling when he will be available in 2025, let alone if he will return to his high-level form before injury.
If Aiyuk is healthy, then absolutely, he ranked appropriately at No. 19. He might even be ranked a little too low if he were.
Nevertheless, it's wild that he is ranked so high with his injury. Aiyuk is higher than D.J. Moore and D.K. Metcalf. Again, when healthy, I like him better than those two.
You can't rank him without factoring in his injury. To be fair, Pro Football Focus should've left Aiyuk off their ranking as "N/A" or something.
I will say to their credit, it is nice to see Aiyuk be praised. While he wasn't putting up impressive numbers before his injury last year, he was still making an impact.
Fingers crossed that he can get close to what he was before tearing his ACL and MCL.
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