49ers roster: 3 players who benefit from Deebo Samuel skipping OTAs

No. 3: 49ers wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk

This sort of goes without saying, but it’s important to acknowledge nonetheless.

Third-year wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk already has his roster spot in 2022 all but guaranteed, and his role as a man coverage-beating threat is already established.

What Aiyuk will look to avoid, however, is the early pitfalls and sluggish start he endured over the first few weeks of last season, which weren’t aided by a minor injury he suffered in training camp a year ago.

Aiyuk and Deebo Samuel would have taken a lot of San Francisco’s first-team reps together during OTAs anyway, but it wouldn’t have been shocking if Samuel was Trey Lance’s primary go-to target during practices.

Now, one might expect a lot of those looks to go Aiyuk’s way.

In a sense, this is great for both Aiyuk and Lance. Samuel is imposing enough a figure to the point where he’s already a bona fide factor in the 49ers offense.

Getting Aiyuk up to that level will now be a bit easier with him effectively being WR1 during OTAs.