Getty Brandon Aiyuk catches the ball on January 8, 2023 in Santa Clara.
On the opening play of the third quarter, San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk joined an exclusive club — and the fraternity all NFL wide receivers want to be a part of: The 1,000-yard club.
The third-year wide receiver and former first rounder entered the game against the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday, January 8 needing 44 yards to finally hit the four-digit mark for the first time in his career. After sitting on 39 at halftime, Aiyuk scaled the century mark on this 20-yard connection from Brock Purdy:
#49ers Brandon Aiyuk goes over 1,000 yards receiving for the 1st time in his career on this catch 👏
Aiyuk sounded off after the game ending the season with 1,015 yards.
“Huge deal, huge deal,” Aiyuk told reporters after the 38-13 trouncing of the Cards. “That was fun and I’m super excited. That’s the mark for receivers. That’s what you think about when you’re training in the offseason, when you’re sitting at home throwing the ball up in the air as a kid on the bed. So that was huge.”
Congrats for Aiyuk Come in Plus Most Telling Accomplishment on Road to 1,000
Members of the 49ers Faithful made sure that Aiyuk was complemented on his newest career milestone as tweets and graphic edits made its way online.
One 49ers fan went with this X-Ray theme for the former first rounder out of Arizona State:
Brandon Aiyuk all year on his way to 1,000+ receiving yards:
Online news producer for the San Francisco Chronicle Angel Guerrero believed this milestone for Aiyuk not only increases his confidence moving forward, but gave this stirring prediction for 2023:
And with that catch, Brandon Aiyuk officially has 1,000+ receiving yards on the season. Congrats to him, this will be huge for his confidence. I expect BA to finish next year with 90 receptions for 1,400 yards and 11 touchdowns. JUCO kid from Sierra College turned into a monster
Al Sacco of 49ers Webzone shared how Aiyuk joined former 49ers Pro Bowl wideout Michael Crabtree through this accolade:
Brandon Aiyuk is the first 49ers WR with 1,000 yards receiving and at least 8 receiving TDs since Michael Crabtree in 2012.
Lastly, 49ers fan @Coach_Yac posted his congrats to Aiyuk:
Congratulations to Brandon Aiyuk for his first career 1,000-yard season.🔥 #49ers
More telling about Aiyuk’s accomplishment: He only produced one 100-yard receiving game during the regular season on his road to 1,000. His lone triple digit performance came in Week 17 versus the Las Vegas Raiders when he caught nine passes for 101 yards. However, he did produce five games of surpassing the 80-yard mark — which included a streak of four consecutive games of topping 80 from October 16 to November 13.
Aiyuk Shares Next Plan & Sounds Off on Postseason
Aiyuk got asked: Does he see himself getting better each season?
“Yeah, for sure. That’s the goal every single season to go out there and get better. That’ll be my goal,” Aiyuk said. “After we wrap this one up, after we handle what we have to do I’ll go into the offseason looking to get better and build off this one. Just continue to keep building and then see where I’m at the end of it all.”
But now that he hit a new career mark, the focus shifts to something larger: The playoffs and the road to Super Bowl 57, which officially begins Saturday, January 14 in Santa Clara versus the rival Seattle Seahawks.
“We’re excited. Last week we handled our business, so we got to move up, or two weeks ago, we got to move up to the two [seed]. This week we thought we had a chance depending on what went on, wherever they played at Philly or New York, but that didn’t go our way. We still had to handle our own business,” Aiyuk said. “We’re excited to be able to have two home games here. The crowd, even like today, they showed up, they showed out today even though we got out to a slow start. Seeing all the red being at home, we’re excited to be able to start the playoffs off here.”