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Brock Purdy Explains Why 49ers WR Brandon Aiyuk is Struggling

Clearly, opposing defenses have adjusted to how the 49ers use Aiyuk. And Brock Purdy has noticed.

Grant Cohn

Nov 12, 2023; Jacksonville, Florida, USA; San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk (11) and quarterback Brock Purdy (13) celebrate a touchdown against the Jacksonville Jaguars during the first quarter at EverBank Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Morgan Tencza-Imagn Images
Nov 12, 2023; Jacksonville, Florida, USA; San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk (11) and quarterback Brock Purdy (13) celebrate a touchdown against the Jacksonville Jaguars during the first quarter at EverBank Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Morgan Tencza-Imagn Images / Morgan Tencza-Imagn Images
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SANTA CLARA -- Brandon Aiyuk's numbers are way down.

You could say that he's rusty because he missed the entire offseason, and that's true. But his numbers dipped in the playoffs last season, too. He caught just 9 passes in three playoff games. And so far through four games this season, he has just 13 catches. Which means he's been averaging a mere three catches per game since January.

Clearly, opposing defenses have adjusted to how the 49ers use Aiyuk. And Brock Purdy has noticed.

“I mean, I feel like he's definitely a guy that when defenses are scheming up our offense, they’ve got to circle 11 and know that if you leave him one-on-one, he's going to be a target at some point in the game," Purdy said on Thursday. "And so, they do their best of clouding, putting a safety over the top and double-teaming him and all that kind of stuff. But you know, for us, that's football. We still have plenty of opportunities for us to be able to get him the ball and stuff. And that's something that throughout the game plans and stuff throughout the week, we still find a way to make it work. So, I know we're going to get him plenty of targets and plays coming, so we're excited about it.”

TRANSLATION: Teams are focusing their attention primarily on Aiyuk for the first time in his career and he's not responding the way a true no. 1 receiver should. In addition, he's creating one-on-one matchups for other players such as Jauan Jennings, so there's absolutely no reason to force the ball to Aiyuk.

He's the most expensive decoy in football.

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Grant Cohn
GRANT COHN

Grant Cohn has covered the San Francisco 49ers daily since 2011. He spent the first nine years of his career with the Santa Rosa Press Democrat where he wrote the Inside the 49ers blog and covered famous coaches and athletes such as Jim Harbaugh, Colin Kaepernick and Patrick Willis. In 2012, Inside the 49ers won Sports Blog of the Year from the Peninsula Press Club. In 2020, Cohn joined FanNation and began writing All49ers. In addition, he created a YouTube channel which has become the go-to place on YouTube to consume 49ers content. Cohn's channel typically generates roughly 3.5 million viewers per month, while the 49ers' official YouTube channel generates roughly 1.5 million viewers per month. Cohn live streams almost every day and posts videos hourly during the football season. Cohn is committed to asking the questions that 49ers fans want answered, and providing the most honest and interactive coverage in the country. His loyalty is to the reader and the viewer, not the team or any player or coach. Cohn is a new-age multimedia journalist with an old-school mentality, because his father is Lowell Cohn, the legendary sports columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle from 1979 to 1993. The two have a live podcast every Tuesday. Grant Cohn grew up in Oakland and studied English Literature at UCLA from 2006 to 2010. He currently lives in Oakland with his wife.

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