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Niners HC Kyle Shanahan told reporters Monday that all the team's "ACL guys" -- in the words of The Athletic's Matt Barrows -- are on track to return around Week 6. That includes WR Brandon Aiyuk, of course.
Barrows: "He said there's a range of weeks that Aiyuk could actually be back in a game, but that's the rough estimate at this point."
Shanahan (via ESPN's Adam Schefter): "They're all different stages. With where they're at, I always see them around Week 6, which means that could be Week 10, means it could be Week 5, but that's the area where I start thinking about it, which is a long way away. I know it's not Week 1 or anything like that, so it's something I'm not really thinking about too much."
That "rough estimate" likely points to Aiyuk at least opening the regular season on the physically unable to perform list. Such a designation would deactivate Aiyuk for at least the first four games.
At the moment, it's tough to know who the 49ers actually will have at WR to open the season.
Jauan Jennings has yet to return from his calf injury, which Shanahan says is legit and not a cover for Jennings' contract unrest.
"It's the same injury he had last year during training camp, which made him miss a couple weeks during training camp last year," the coach said. "It's the same thing on the MRI. But hopefully we'll get him back sooner than later."
San Francisco has also lost rookie WR Jordan Watkins for a month to a high-ankle sprain.
That leaves WR Ricky Pearsall, TE George Kittle, and RB Christian McCaffrey as the available central figures. Second-year WR Jacob Cowing is expected to return this week from a hamstring injury and could challenge for an early-season role.
Aiyuk, meanwhile, will make the most sense for fantasy leagues that include IR slots. If you can't stash him on IR but do play with deep rosters (say, 20+ spots), then Aiyuk can still fit.
The shallower your roster size gets, though, the more difficult he gets to like on draft day.
If Pearsall can stay healthy the rest of August, he could hit the regular season with immediate breakout potential.
Kittle looks like Pearsall's primary challenger for the team target lead.
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