Life without Brandon Aiyuk may be the new normal for the San Francisco 49ers.
The 49ers star receiver Aiyuk is “not close” to returning to action, general manager John Lynch revealed during an appearance Thursday on KNBR in San Francisco. Lynch also indicated that Aiyuk had damage to his knee beyond just the ACL and MCL.
“No setbacks,” said Lynch of Aiyuk’s status. “There’s different levels when you do these ACLs, and Brandon had a fairly significant injury involving a lot of different things in his knee.
“He’s working hard and will just continue to do that,” Lynch added. “We’ll be a better team when Brandon’s out there, and so we look forward to that day. But it’s not close. When we have some information on that, we’ll be forthright with it.”
The 27-year-old Aiyuk, a former first-round pick by the 49ers in 2020, has already posted multiple seasons of 1,000 yards receiving with the team. But he tore both the ACL and MCL in his right knee in October of last season during Week 7 against the Kansas City Chiefs (see the video here). As a result, Aiyuk is currently on the physically unable to perform (PUP) list for San Francisco to begin 2025.
Just last month, the team had set a target date for Aiyuk’s potential return to the field. But now it sounds like Aiyuk needs even more time to recover, leaving Ricky Pearsall, Jauan Jennings, the newly-reinstated Demarcus Robinson, and Marquez Valdes-Scantling to keep holding down the fort at receiver for the 3-0 49ers.
