SF 49ers: 3 reasons Brandon Aiyuk gets even better after dominant Week 3 outing

No. 2: SF 49ers can expect more yards after catch from Brandon Aiyuk

Of his 70 receiving yards in Week 3, 37 of them came after the catch. On the entire season, in which Aiyuk has played two games, the rookie has managed 59 YAC yards out of 91 total.

That’s pretty impressive and indicative of what Kyle Shanahan’s offense tries to do with its pass-catchers.

But the numbers don’t even scratch the surface of what Aiyuk could potentially do over the course of a full season. Out of his 1,192 receiving yards last year at Arizona State, 710 of them came after hauling in the pass, which ranked second-best among all FBS players in 2019. On top of that, he managed an impressive 18.3 yards per reception that season, too.

Aiyuk, at 6-foot-0 and 205 pounds, might not be the most physically imposing player on the field and probably won’t break a plethora of tackles.

But when he gets into space, he’s already proven to be tough taking down with the ball in his hands.

Getting Aiyuk more comfortable and aggressive in his route-running abilities will only make this attribute to his game more potent, and it’ll likely result in the receiver being one of the more dangerous members of the SF 49ers offense when he has the ball in his hands.