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NBC Sports Bay Area's Matt Maiocco hears that "it's not out of the question" that 49ers WR Brandon Aiyuk (knee) is ready for Week 1. Aiyuk is working his way back from October's torn ACL and MCL. He won't be ready for the start of training camp, and the expectation has been that he'll open the season on the PUP list, missing at least the first four games. But Maiocco hears that Aiyuk is "ahead of schedule" and "doing really well."
More from Maiocco on Aiyuk: "They want to be extra cautious with him. Even though the timeline, everything being equal, might point toward, hey, there's a chance Week 1, and there still might be a chance Week 1, I think the feeling inside the organization has always been don't take any chances, start him off on PUP when they report to training camp on July 22, and then more than likely, just have that carry over into the regular season. ... And then, it's quite possible that he could be ready Week 5 or Week 6, getting up to speed quickly. But everything I'm hearing is that things are looking good, and that the progress is even ahead of where the markers were that the 49ers put on him when he had that surgery."
It sounds like the PUP list and missing at least the first four games of the season is still most likely for Aiyuk. But this is certainly a positive update, especially after ESPN's Adam Schefter said back in March that Aiyuk could miss the first half of the season.
Aiyuk's progress will be one of the biggest storylines of August. There are additional targets up for grabs in San Francisco's always-efficient passing game with WR Deebo Samuel now in Washington.
We had Aiyuk projected to miss the first six games of the season. We've adjusted that to the first five games, moving Aiyuk from 56th to 52nd in the WR Rankings.
Aiyuk's Underdog ADP has fallen from late Round 7 to the middle of Round 8 over the last few weeks. He's been an avoid for us for most of drafting season so far. But the price drop and this update has us more interested.
We'll see if Aiyuk's ADP starts climbing again now.
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