Brandon Aiyuk is just 194 yards away from breaking one of Jerry Rice's franchise records — the most receiving yards by a San Francisco 49ers rookie. Rice had 927 receiving yards in 1985. In second place is Deebo Samuel, who had 802 last season. Aiyuk seems poised to surpass his teammate's mark.
Aiyuk will need two more stellar games, averaging 97 yards between them, to reach Rice's record. However, the rookie isn't concerned with that. Aiyuk was asked on Wednesday if he thinks about records and personal accolades during the season.
"Nope," Aiyuk responded. "I mean, going into a game, I feel, personally, that I could have any type of game. Going into a game, my mindset is that this game, I'm going to have 200 yards ... and then go from there. The mindset is not worrying about that record. The mindset is going out there and ... having the perfect game, which I haven't yet to do in terms of assignments and doing what I'm supposed to do.
"At the end of the season, if I look up and that record is broken, that would be pretty exciting, but right now, we still have two games left — Arizona this week and one after that. So, that's the main focus right now."
Aiyuk says the game has really started to slow down for him, especially over the last few weeks. The rookie has averaged 94.7 yards per game over his last six appearances. To put that into perspective, that average over the course of a 16-game season is a whopping 1,514 receiving yards.
"I would say just up until about a few weeks ago, coming back from my little COVID break (November 20 through December 2) was when things started to really slow down on the field and from the playbook," Aiyuk shared, "and just being able to go out there and focus on the defenses and coverages and who I'm playing against instead of having to worry about what my assignment is."
As for the rookie record, does Rice want to see his mark topped?
"Hell yeah! Of course!" Rice recently said on 95.7 The Game. "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."
Rice doesn't just think Aiyuk will grow during his sophomore NFL campaign. He expects a major leap from the 49ers wideout.
"It's just like my rookie season," Rice explained during a separate interview. "You try to find your way, where you fit in," Rice continued. "You try to get acclimated to the playbook and also what you're going to be doing on the football field. And I think next year, he's going to take a major, major leap. And he's going to be more productive and put more points on the board."