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What to Expect from 49ers WR Brandon Aiyuk in 2025

I fully expect Aiyuk to play at some point in 2025. But we saw what he looked like last year without a full offseason to train and prepare, and he wasn't good.
Grant Cohn|
Oct 20, 2024; Santa Clara, California, USA; San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk (11) lays on the ground after suffering an injury against the Kansas City Chiefs in the second quarter at Levi's Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Cary Edmondson-Imagn Images
Oct 20, 2024; Santa Clara, California, USA; San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk (11) lays on the ground after suffering an injury against the Kansas City Chiefs in the second quarter at Levi's Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Cary Edmondson-Imagn Images | Cary Edmondson-Imagn Images

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San Francisco 49ers

One of the biggest question marks on the 49ers in 2025 is Brandon Aiyuk.

He signed a four-year, $120 million extension on Aug. 29, 2024. Then on Oct. 20 in a game against the Kansas City Chiefs, he took a hit to his knee and tore his ACL, MCL and meniscus. Now it's unclear when he will return and how good he'll be when he gets back.

In 2023, Talanoa Hufanga tore his ACL on Nov. 19, then missed the entire offseason training program and made his season debut Week 3 against the Rams. But he didn't tear his MCL or his meniscus, so he was able to make a come back in 10 months.

Aiyuk's comeback could take longer considering his knee injury was more brutal than Hufanga's. Clearly, Aiyuk will miss OTAs, minicamp and training camp and will attempt to come back at some point mid-season.

I fully expect Aiyuk to play at some point in 2025. But we saw what he looked like last year without a full offseason to train and prepare, and he wasn't good. And that was before he tore up his knee. He simply held out because he was negotiating his extension. When he returned, he was a shell of himself.

Which means we should adjust our expectations accordingly for Aiyuk. He might regain his pre-injury form one day, but probably not in 2025. And there's no guarantee he'll be better than Jauan Jennings or Ricky Pearsall in the future. We'll have to see if Aiyuk still has the speed and quickness that made him special.

Until then, he'll be no higher than third on the wide receiver depth chart when healthy.

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Grant Cohn
GRANT COHN

Grant Cohn has covered the San Francisco 49ers daily since 2011. He spent the first nine years of his career with the Santa Rosa Press Democrat where he wrote the Inside the 49ers blog and covered famous coaches and athletes such as Jim Harbaugh, Colin Kaepernick and Patrick Willis. In 2012, Inside the 49ers won Sports Blog of the Year from the Peninsula Press Club. In 2020, Cohn joined FanNation and began writing All49ers. In addition, he created a YouTube channel which has become the go-to place on YouTube to consume 49ers content. Cohn's channel typically generates roughly 3.5 million viewers per month, while the 49ers' official YouTube channel generates roughly 1.5 million viewers per month. Cohn live streams almost every day and posts videos hourly during the football season. Cohn is committed to asking the questions that 49ers fans want answered, and providing the most honest and interactive coverage in the country. His loyalty is to the reader and the viewer, not the team or any player or coach. Cohn is a new-age multimedia journalist with an old-school mentality, because his father is Lowell Cohn, the legendary sports columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle from 1979 to 1993. The two have a live podcast every Tuesday. Grant Cohn grew up in Oakland and studied English Literature at UCLA from 2006 to 2010. He currently lives in Oakland with his wife.

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