The San Francisco are nearly through half of their offseason program, with mandatory minicamp coming up later this month.
As the [49ers](https://www.ninersnation.com/) get back on the field, they’re taking a cautious approach with several players, hoping to improve their injury luck after dealing with issues with several key players in 2024.
However, there is one star that will likely miss the beginning of the season: Brandon Aiyuk.
Aiyuk, who tore his ACL and MCL in October of last season, has slowly been recovering from the major injury, but NBC Sports Bay Area’s Matt Maiocco still believes he’ll be placed on the Physically Unable to Perform (PUP) list to start the year.
“My guess is that when the 49ers report to training camp, he’ll be put on the PUP list,” Maiocco said of Aiyuk. “I would think that there’s also a strong possibility he will start the season on PUP and miss at least the first four games. I don’t think they want to rush it with him and force him back out there.
“I would think that, right now, when the season starts, the 49ers are thinking that they won’t have Brandon Aiyuk on the field early on, but we’ll see. A lot of it will have to do with just what happens now. I know he’s at the facility, working out every day, so he’s on a good track from that standpoint. But I would think that he’s going to miss some time at the beginning of the year.”
It makes sense for the 49ers to bring Aiyuk along slowly. After all, they paid the star wideout a massive four-year, $120 million extension last offseason, so there’s quite the investment in Aiyuk playing at a high level. In order to get him back to that form, it’ll take time and recovery, so there isn’t a need to have him out on the field before he’s clearly 100 percent.
That could be at the start of the season, but it seems likelier to be sometime near the midseason mark, which would make the PUP list a logical solution. But, what should San Francisco actually expect from Aiyuk in 2025?
Well, upon his return, he’ll immediately slide back into that top wideout role. And it’ll be interesting to see how teams play him. If they still continue to double-team at the rate that he was at in 2024, then other receivers should keep getting opportunities to produce.
But, if Aiyuk gets the 1-on-1 chances early, it’ll be a good indicator of how good he can be early. Assuming he plays around 10 games, I’d expect at least 500 yards from Aiyuk working in the 49ers offense as the No. 1 option.
However, other wideouts like Ricky Pearsall and Jauan Jennings should still get their volume, while George Kittle has the targets available to remain one of the best tight ends in the game.
So, Aiyuk may not have to shoulder the load early on necessarily, but last year was a clear indicator of how much attention he can absorb, which frees up a lot for the 49ers offense.