Before we get into why Brandon Aiyuk is a prime bounce back candidate for Fantasy Football in 2025, please check out our early RB rankings on our Instagram page. These rankings are subject to change, but right now this is our sentiment on the current landscape with running backs.
To start this off, it is safe to say that if you drafted Brandon Aiyuk in the 2024 season of Fantasy Football, you were probably very disappointed with the result he gave you. Even though his season ended early in the 7th week with an ACL tear, he wasn’t exactly the all-star we were hoping for going into the season.
In the seven games Brandon Aiyuk played, he only had 10 or more fantasy points in one, which means that in six games of the fantasy season, Brandon Aiyuk was a good reason for people to lose their fantasy matchups.
In recent news, the 49ers have informed Deebo Samuel that they will be looking to trade him. Assuming that Deebo Samuel is no longer with the 49ers next year, this makes Brandon Aiyuk a prime bounce-back candidate. Let’s not forget that Brandon Aiyuk had back-to-back 1000 receiving-yard seasons in 2022 and 2023.
To look at some fantasy stats for Brandon Aiyuk, he averaged 13.4 and 15.6 fantasy points per game, respectively, in the 2022 and 2023 NFL seasons. Again, with Deebo now out of the picture, the 49ers offense becomes more concentrated on their receiving core. This will also mean that more targets will be going towards Brandon Aiyuk.
Brandon Aiyuk right now, according to early projections by Underdog, has his ADP in the 7th round, along with guys like Keon Coleman, Jayden Reed, Josh Downs, and even going after Jauan Jennings. This is a very low projection, and it looks like Brandon Aiyuk can be an absolute steal at that value right now. He has the upside to be a high-end WR2 in fantasy, and we have already seen it before for two years in a row.
It is important that we draft players with upside in the later rounds. Some guys that I mentioned that he is being drafted alongside don’t have as much foreseeable upside as Brandon Aiyuk has, so why not draft him? Going into the 2025 Fantasy Football draft, Brandon Aiyuk is someone we have our eyes on right now, and you should be looking to draft him should he continue to be this low on the draft boards.