Two San Francisco 49ers wide receivers have gone down due to injuries already.
Fresh off of a tough Super Bowl loss, the San Francisco 49ers surely have eyes for getting back to the pinnacle of the NFC once again. One way they assured that would be a possibility was to bolster the wide receiver corps in the 2020 NFL Draft, selecting Brandon Aiyuk out of Arizona State with one of their first-round picks.
Aiyuk was likely going to play an important role in head coach Kyle Shanahan’s offense but it may be even bigger right out of the gate as the 49ers have had some poor offseason injury luck. In the span of one week, second-year wideout Deebo Samuel along with Richie James both suffered injuries that will last, at minimum, until the end of the preseason.
Samuel suffered a broken foot in a throwing session and is expected to be out 10 weeks, which would put him back on the field just before Week 1 (Sept. 13). James, meanwhile, broke his wrist while training and is expected to be out for two months, putting his projected return date in mid-August.
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Given that both players are expected to be back on the field by the start of the regular season, it might seem as if the 49ers don’t necessarily need Aiyuk to rise to the occasion immediately in his rookie campaign. That, however, is not wholly the case.
Rookie Brandon Aiyuk needs to help the San Francisco 49ers right away.
For starters, it should be noted that the return dates for Samuel and James are the projected return dates if everything goes to plan. San Francisco, however, should be wary of that. Just last season, wide receiver Trent Taylor also suffered a broken foot in the offseason and, after suffering a litany of setbacks, he missed the entire year.
Setbacks happen with these guys, even if they are doing everything they’re supposed to and aren’t rushing back. And with the timelines for Samuel and James putting them back just before Week 1, any setbacks would mean that they’re missing regular-season action, which would increase Aiyuk’s importance in itself.
Even assuming that there aren’t setbacks, though, Aiyuk is going to be a big part of the 49ers offense. His run-after-catch ability is perfect for Shanahan’s offense, which is why they selected him where they did. But now he’s going to get an even bigger workload in training camp and the preseason to fill out that role.
With Samuel and James missing most or all of training camp and the preseason, that means that Aiyuk could emerge as a bonafide focal point of the San Francisco offense with how they plan. Subsequently, how he performs when called upon early could pair closely with how the Niners offense looks out of the gate.
Any football fan should hope two fun young players such as Samuel and James do come back healthy as they are simply enjoyable to watch. However, with their injuries, expect the importance of Aiyuk’s early-career performance as a rookie to increase given the injuries that the two incumbents suffered this offseason.