The San Francisco 49ers purged their roster, losing most of their star players on offense, leaving their expensive receiver, Brandon Aiyuk, as the primary target. The problem with that is he’s coming off an ACL and MCL injury in his right knee, which he suffered at the end of October last year.
The 49ers announced that the Aiyuk would be on the reserve/PUP (physically unable to perform) list to start training camp and that could linger over into the start of the season. If he does, that means he would miss at least the first four games of the season. The 49ers didn’t rule out a Week 1 return, however.
The good news is Aiyuk will be available for the 2025 season, the bad news is Brock Purdy could be without his most explosive weapon to start the year. It will be the test for a player the 49ers have put a whole lot of faith – and money – into for the future.
Brock Purdy can earn his massive rookie extension as top playmaker could miss start of season
Purdy signed a five-year, $265 million extension, including $181 million guaranteed this past offseason. To some, it feels like the 49ers overpaid for a quarterback that had one good season. This is Purdy’s chance to prove the 49ers were right to pay him like an elite quarterback. Regardless of who’s healthy or not, Purdy is now paid to prove he’s good enough to elevate this team.
When the 49ers traded away Deebo Samuel and made some adjustments on defense, they made it clear that Purdy was their guy. He can’t afford to not play like it. Purdy’s biggest problem has been his lack of availability.
In his three seasons, he’s missed some games. Truthfully, we haven’t really seen how good Purdy can be in this offense when he has to truly be the difference. San Francisco still has George Kittle and Christian McCaffrey. So he won’t have as much pressure, but this will be the test to see just how good he is.
San Francisco is still a solid team on offense, despite losing Samuel. Purdy has the weight of a mountain on his shoulders as the expectations increase dramatically for him. He no longer has the label of Mr. Irrelevant, being the final pick in the 2022 NFL Draft.
Now he’s arrived in the NFL and paid like one of the top quarterbacks. He needs to play like it this year, he has no more excuses not to.