Aiyuk disputes Shanahan's claim that Deebo is 49ers' fastest WR
Aiyuk disputes Shanahan's claim that Deebo is 49ers' fastest WR originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area
Brandon Aiyuk is brimming with confidence heading into the 2023 NFL season.
Speaking with KNBR's Greg Papa and John Lund on Friday, Aiyuk revealed he is using 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan's claim that Deebo Samuel is faster than him as fuel for ascension this season.
"Yeah, I wasn't here for his first year but I watched him a lot my rookie year," Aiyuk said on the "Papa & Lund" show. "And he looks good. Kyle said today he's the fastest receiver we have. That's what he said."
Upon hearing this, Papa and Lund began questioning Aiyuk on who he personally feels is faster between him and Samuel, to which the 25-year-old said he is "not going to talk about it."
"We've been having this debate going on for like three, four years," Aiyuk said. "I just don't see nobody beating me. But he feels the same way."
The explosive receiver also said he believes this is Shanahan's way of firing up his players to get them to perform at a higher level.
"He's trying to get somebody going," Aiyuk continued. "They talked about how we weren't that fast yesterday, coming off them off days."
That said, Aiyuk knows it's not going to take much for him to reach another gear in games -- it just takes seeing his teammates performing well to get him going.
"Yeah, we just talked about it before, we just talked about it last week I said when I was at the podium, 'If I see Deebo make a play, alright it's my turn to make a play' and it's vice versa," Aiyuk told Papa and Lund. "Same for George [Kittle], same for anybody.
"We all want to play to a certain standard -- we want to play at a certain level, we want to continue to keep pushing to that level and when you play with guys all over the field like [Christian] McCaffrey and Kittle, our quarterbacks like Brock [Purdy] is trying to take it to another level, we just feel like we could keep doing it so it's like we just want to match the intensity all around and keep playing this game and see how far we can take it."
RELATED: 49ers' Aiyuk doubles down on claim he will ‘take off' in 2023
With Aiyuk doubling down on his claim that he will "take off" during the 2023 season, it can only lead to good things for the 49ers if he is able to improve upon his career year last season.
And if all goes well for San Francisco, perhaps this season will be an unforgettable one for everyone involved, especially Aiyuk.
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