The San Francisco 49ers need to take an in-depth look at their doctors and strength and conditioning coaches. Injuries continue to hurt this team year in and year out, and there's no point in having all that talent if they can't take the field.
On top of losing Nick Bosa for the season and George Kittle still being out, it now seems like it will take much longer before the fans get to watch Brandon Aiyuk take the field again. According to GM John Lynch, he's making great progress, but he's not close yet.
Brandon Aiyuk is 'Not Close' to Playing
"No setbacks. 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," Lynch said on KNBR's "Murph & Markus Morning Show." "He's a really gifted athlete, he's a very hard worker. So when you combine that, you tend to come back at a good clip. There's no absolutes on these things."
Lynch reaffirmed that Aiyuk is in good spirits, and he knows how much of an impact he can make for the offense. Still, they're going to take things slowly as he continues to work his way back from such a delicate injury.
"So he's got to continue to hit markers, but he is tracking well. He's working hard. We'll continue to do that. We'll be a better team when Brandon's out there, so we look forward to that day. But it's not close. But when we have some more information on that, we'll be forthright with it," he added.
The All-Pro wideout was projected to be the team's primary pass-catcher before suffering a season-ending ACL and MCL injury just seven weeks into the 2024 season. That was on the heels of a long contract standoff and trade request that ended with him signing a four-year, $120 million contract extension.
Aiyuk broke out for a career-best 75 receptions for 1,342 receiving yards and seven touchdowns, and he looked like a superstar in the making. Now, he's just another name in the Niners' long list of hurt playmakers.
The Niners will get Demarcus Robinson on the field in Week 4 after he served his three-game suspension, and Ricky Pearsall looks also poised to play after popping up on the injury report earlier in the week. He will have to do most of the heavy lifting until Aiyuk can finally return.