San Francisco 49ers rookie Brandon Aiyuk is 267 receiving yards away from Hall of Fame wide receiver Jerry Rice's team rookie record for receiving yards. Rice posted 927 receiving yards in 1985. Aiyuk has three games left to reach that mark, and a few more performances like Sunday's 10-catch, 119-yard one against Washington could help him do that.
What does Rice think about having his rookie record broken by Aiyuk? Does he want to see that happen?
"Hell yeah! Of course!" Rice responded on 95.7 The Game's The Morning Roast. "And I'll be the first one to congratulate this guy. And I think he is the future, and he's going to continue to get better."
It's too early to tell if Aiyuk will come close to being the type of player Rice was. After all, most consider Rice the best to ever play the position. The Hall of Famer loves what he's seen from the 49ers rookie so far.
Rice did feel Aiyuk suffered from some poor timing between quarterback and receiver on Sunday, though.
"My thing is the run-after-the-catch," Rice explained. "If Nick (Mullens) had gotten him the ball just a little bit sooner, I think he would have been able to show more of his creativity after catching the football.
"But we know the guy can stretch the field, he can make difficult catches, and whenever the ball is in the air, he feels like it belongs to me. So, you're starting to see that come out, but I think he's only going to get better.
"But I want to see that YAC (yards after the catch). I want to see after the catch, where this guy can just break it wide open and go for six."
You can listen to the entire conversation with Rice below.