Photo courtesy of the San Francisco 49ers
After Thursday’s joint practice session with the Minnesota Vikings, San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk took to the podium. It was the second straight day of joint practice before the two teams meet for a preseason competition at US Bank Stadium on Saturday.
A reporter asked what Aiyuk took away from the two drills, and the wide receiver hesitated before answering, gathering his thoughts before answering. It didn’t sound like he really wanted it.
“It was good work, competing against someone else, in a different environment. But I? I felt, eh. I didn’t like it,” Aiyuk admitted. “I personally feel like it was a waste of time. … It was certainly boring.”
The 49ers, who didn’t really want to reveal too much, didn’t prepare for the joint training session. Instead, everything was reportedly kept simple, which explains the offensive’s hit-and-miss performances this week.
Aiyuk may have felt his momentum hit a speed bump. The wide receiver has been putting on fantastic drills, with safety Jimmie Ward recently naming him one of training camp’s MVPs.
“I think it was boring because it was a bit of Day 1 stuff,” Aiyuk said. “The basic stuff. I was just a little irritated after only touching the ball three times in the past two days, but that’s beside the point. kyle [and the coaches] always have their own agenda for what they are trying to get done and achieve here. So you just assume that you’re getting better with every single rep and you find that out later.”
Aiyuk enjoyed getting some work against Vikings cornerback Patrick Peterson.
“When you’re up against guys like [Peterson], they are always in the right place,” Aiyuk shared. “You get some sort of indication of what the route is based on the alignment, the route stem, where you’re aligned, so you’ve got to bring your A game. You gotta trade stuff with him somehow. But it was great work to face him.”
While drills for the third-year wideout were uninteresting, Aiyuk can’t wait for actual game planning to begin. He knows that’s coming soon as week 1 is fast approaching.
“I can’t wait to get into game planning and just work on what you’re going to work on all week and then go ahead and execute on Sundays,” Aiyuk said. “So I’m looking forward to the game planning. We’re obviously not doing that right now. We’re still putting stuff in and just working and getting better, communicating, on the same page with the quarterback. So we’re not game planning at the moment, but when we do it will definitely be exciting.”
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