Brandon Aiyuk Fantasy Outlook Improves Following Jalen Hurd Injury Update

The San Francisco 49ers' receiving corps might've been dealt yet another tough blow this offseason. They've already lost Emmanuel Sanders to free agency, and Deebo Samuel suffered a jones fracture over the summer and will miss an undisclosed amount of time.

But now Jalen Hurd, who missed his entire 2019 rookie season due to a back injury, is feared to have torn his ACL on Monday afternoon.

With both Hurd and Samuel likely sidelined for a while, San Francisco's first-round pick Brandon Aiyuk could see a serious uptick in volume. That would significantly improve his fantasy football outlook.

Brandon Aiyuk Fantasy Football Outlook

Aiyuk currently carries an average draft position (ADP) of WR63, per FantasyPros ADP rankings. He's a compelling target at that value. San Francisco's receiving corps is pretty depleted. Kendrick Bourne, Dante Pettis and Trent Taylor could all see some action early on, but the 49ers have the most incentive to play Aiyuk given his first-round pedigree.

With Hurd likely sidelined, Aiyuk seems like the most likely candidate to earn the lion's share of the 5.3 targets per game vacated by Sanders (plus 5.4 from Deebo while he's sidelined).

If he sees enough volume Aiyuk could excel, as he's the ideal fit in Kyle Shanahan's system. San Francisco has always targeted receivers with an ability to generate yards after the catch. George Kittle's 602 YAC was the best mark among all tight ends and the third-best mark overall. Samuel, meanwhile, averaged 8.3 YAC per reception – good for the second-best figure among WRs.

Aiyuk was a bonafide stud after the catch during his time at Arizona State, and that's likely what made San Francisco draft him at No. 25 overall.

Aiyuk was always going to be a low-risk, high-reward option for the 2020 season, and his path to fantasy relevance just got that much easier. He's an interesting flier at his current ADP and we have him as the No. 141 overall player in our 2020 fantasy football rankings.

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Max Staley is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Max Staley also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username mstaley1212. While the strategies and player selections recommended in his articles are his personal views, he may deploy different strategies and player selections when entering contests with his personal account. The views expressed in their articles are the author's alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel.