The San Francisco 49ers didn't give wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk a whole lot of opportunities early in the season. However, those opportunities have increased in recent weeks. Aiyuk has 32 receptions for 453 yards and three touchdowns since Week 8. That includes his game-winning touchdown in overtime against the Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday.
BRANDON AIYUK FLOATED FOR THE WIN. #FTTB #SFvsCIN pic.twitter.com/Oz0BzUyx2d
— NFL (@NFL) December 13, 2021
Aiyuk only played about half of the offensive snaps in the 49ers' first two outings this season. However, his playing time increased as the season progressed. The receiver has played at least 90 percent of the offensive snaps in each of the last six games.
Early on, there was speculation that Aiyuk may be in head coach Kyle Shanahan's doghouse, perhaps due to a lack of preparation during the offseason. If that was the case, the second-year receiver is out of the doghouse now.
"Yeah, Aiyuk, each week now and it's been a number of weeks in a row—you guys know when I started talking about it—it's probably been over the last six weeks, but he's getting better every time he plays football," Shanahan told reporters via a conference call on Monday, "whether it's practice or whether it's games. And it wasn't that way early on in camp, not from a lack of effort, but there's been something here that just his attention to detail and the littler things, that's been very impressive.
"He's a very smart guy. I think he's grown up a lot in these last few months, just communicating with the quarterbacks better with the coaches and really fun to coach here. It's been fun to watch him have some success doing it, and me and the whole team is appreciating it."
San Francisco made Aiyuk the No. 25 overall pick last year. The wideout has hauled in 41 passes for 549 yards and four touchdowns through 13 games and 12 starts this season.