Brandon Aiyuk Dynasty Fantasy Football Value: Get Ready To Sell This Offseason
Jake Trowbridge and Chris Allen break down how to approach Brandon Aiyuk during the 2026 offseason.
Brandon Aiyuk has had quite the fall from grace in the Bay Area and fantasy football circles alike. After back-to-back seasons of at least 1,000 yards and 15 total touchdowns, the arrow was pointing straight up for Aiyuk. Fast forward a season and a half, and things couldn't be more different.
With his tenure in San Francisco all but finished, the 2026 offseason will be an important one for Aiyuk and his dynasty fantasy football managers. Jake and Chris break down how they'd approach the once-hyped wideout.
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Jake: What do you do with a soon-to-be 28-year-old receiver who hasn’t played football in a year and a half? Well, when that player topped 1,300 receiving yards in his last full season, it’s a question worth investigating. Aiyuk and the 49ers are done with each other. And I understand the appeal of Aiyuk going to a different team that better “gets him”. But I’m seeing a few too many parallels to former fantasy stud Michael Thomas to ignore.
Their circumstances don’t perfectly overlap. Like Aiyuk, the erstwhile Saints' career went up and up and up for four seasons and then abruptly plummeted due to serious injuries. Thomas played seven games in his fifth year and then missed the following season altogether. To this point, it’s the exact same situation for Aiyuk. We just don’t know whether he’ll be able to retain any fantasy relevance when he comes back. I’m not saying Aiyuk is necessarily toast, but there will be a gigantic selling window if he goes anywhere with an opportunity to compete for the top spot on the depth chart. And I won’t be caught holding the bag.
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Chris: Dang, Jake used the word "erstwhile" unironically. Now you know it's serious.
Anyway, to Jake's point, Aiyuk's value comes down to your risk tolerance, independent of which side of a potential deal you're on with him involved. In either case, looking at his usage profile over his last three "healthy" seasons, I'm struggling to find the upside.
- Target Rate: 22.3% (2023), 22.6% (2022), 16.9% (2021)
- aDOT: 14.0, 10.0, 9.7
- Yards per Route Run: 3.06, 1.92, 1.70
It took Aiyuk three seasons to crack a 20% target share on a team that featured Kendrick Bourne and Jauan Jennings at the same position. His best year came with an aDOT of 14 yards. Over the last 10 years, the only player with a similar air yards per target and that level of efficiency is Julio Jones. Essentially, his on-field deployment was volatile already. Leaving a productive scheme and a high-end QB doesn't instill much confidence that Aiyuk can return any value.
Profiting off Aiyuk returning to the top 24 would be like hitting a two-leg parlay. First, he'd need to land with a passing game with targets up for grabs. Steelers, Ravens, Bills or Titans would be ideal candidates. But the second part involves him earning fantasy-viable looks. And if he remains as a vertical outside threat with his second team, I wouldn't want him on my roster.
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