Who Should I Start? Brandon Aiyuk or Quentin Johnston

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.

Friday, June 13, 1:53 PM

The Athletic's Daniel Popper writes that Los Angeles Chargers wide receiver Quentin Johnston worked with the first-team offense alongside second-year wideout Ladd McConkey and Jalen Reagor for the bulk of the work during mandatory minicamp this week. Rookie Tre Harris got limited reps with quarterback Justin Herbert. Johnston, the 21st overall pick in 2023 out of TCU, struggled with drops and was a disappointing in his rookie season, but he bounced back with a 55-711-8 line in 15 regular-season games (11 starts) in 2024. The problem is that his role could be in jeopardy in 2025 with the addition of Harris and big-play threat Mike Williams. With the added competition and Johnston still lacking for efficiency in a run-first offense, both his fantasy ceiling and floor will be low. RotoBaller has the 23-year-old ranked as the WR59.