As the San Francisco 49ers navigate their Week 5 matchup against the Los Angeles Rams, the absence of wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk is as glaring as ever.
The 49ers have been dealing with injuries to their other wide receivers over the first four weeks. Jauan Jennings is set to miss his second game of the season on Thursday night, and Ricky Pearsall is missing his first.
Of course, Aiyuk has been on the physically unable to perform list since the offseason as he works his way back from tearing his ACL and MCL last October. It will have been a full year since Aiyuk suffered the injury on Oct. 20, 2024.
So, when can we expect Aiyuk to return? Here's everything we know.
Will Brandon Aiyuk play in 2025?
There has been no indication Aiyuk will miss the entire 2025 season, but it doesn't look like he's going to return soon, either, even though he is now eligible to be activated from the PUP list.
General manager John Lynch addressed Aiyuk's status on Sept. 25 and revealed that the star wideout has not suffered any setbacks, but he's also "not close" to coming back yet.
"No setbacks," Lynch said of Aiyuk. "There's different levels when you do these ACLs, and Brandon had a fairly significant injury, involving a lot of different things in his knee. He's a really gifted athlete. He's a very hard worker. And so when you combine that, you tend to come back at a good clip.
"There's no absolutes on these things. So he's got to continue to hit markers, but he is tracking well," Lynch added. "He's working hard. And we'll just continue to do that. We'll be a better team when Brandon is out there. And so we look forward to that day, but you know, it's not close. When we have some more information on that, we'll be forthright with it."
While that was a grim update, head coach Kyle Shanahan attempted to clarify what Lynch said to make it sound more positive.
"No, I think it's more like when we get kind of an exact target date," Shanahan said. "That's when you look at it that way. I think we're getting close to that. But just not to have a target date is that's when I start thinking about it and we don't have that yet. So, we're waiting until they give us one.”
The first step for Aiyuk to come back is being designated to return from the PUP list. From there, the Niners will have 21 days to active him to the 53-man roster.
At this point, it's anyone's guess what week exactly Aiyuk will be back, but again, we are still assuming he will be back at some point in 2025 until told otherwise.
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