Who Should I Start? Brandon Aiyuk or Calvin Austin III

Saturday, June 14, 11:52 AM

San Francisco 49ers general manager John Lynch said on the Pat McAfee Show this week that wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk (knee) is making great progress in his rehab from a torn ACL and MCL in his right knee that he suffered last October. "Brandon is doing a tremendous job coming back. It's kind of incredible how well he's healing, and he's putting in the work," Lynch said. Lynch continued to stress that Aiyuk is still an important part of the team going forward, although he's probably not going to be able to make his 2025 debut until around midseason. After a contract dispute last summer, the 27-year-old caught just 25 passes for 374 yards and no touchdowns before his season-ending knee injury seven games into the season. When he returns, he'll battle for targets with George Kittle, Jauan Jennings and Ricky Pearsall. There are a lot of question marks surrounding Aiyuk going into 2025.

Wednesday, June 11, 5:17 PM

Pittsburgh Steelers wide receivers coach Zach Azzanni likes Calvin Austin III to be the team's No. 2 wideout behind DK Metcalf in 2025 after George Pickens was traded to the Dallas Cowboys this offseason. Azzanni said that Austin is being overlooked and that he is a "legit NFL receiver" that "gets separation all over the field." Roman Wilson and others will be working as a committee behind Metcalf and Austin to open the 2025 regular season. Austin, a former fourth-rounder (138th overall) in 2022 out of Memphis, caught 36 of his 58 targets for 548 yards and four touchdowns in 17 regular-season games (eight starts) in his second season in the NFL last year. He is definitely going to have a bigger role in 2025, but in what is expected to be a run-heavy offense with quarterback Aaron Rodgers likely in the last season of his career, we'd expect Austin to struggle for volume on a week-to-week basis.