SF 49ers winners, losers from shocking win over Cardinals
By Peter Panacy
Loser: SF 49ers Wide Receiver Brandon Aiyuk
Rookie wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk finds him on the loser list not because he had a bad game, per se.
But rather because he wasn’t a preferred target for C.J. Beathard.
Aiyuk entered the game in position to potentially break Hall of Famer Jerry Rice’s franchise record for most receiving yards by a rookie (927) set back in 1985. San Francisco’s most-recent first-round NFL Draft pick trailed Rice’s mark by 194 yards and needed to be the regular go-to target to pace what would be needed to pass the greatest wide receiver of all time.
Instead, Aiyuk netted just one pass for 15 yards. That was it.
He’ll now need 179 yards to get to that point, which will be a tough ask in Week 17 even if he’ll be going up against a porous Seattle Seahawks pass defense to round out the 2020 regular season.
Perhaps Aiyuk can climb up to No. 2 on that same list, though, ahead of his current teammate, wide receiver Deebo Samuel (802).