Herm Edwards invokes Jerry Rice when asked about Brandon Aiyuk’s speed
Brandon Aiyuk didn’t run a blazing 40-yard dash time relative to other receivers in the 2020 NFL Draft class. But he’s plenty fast, according to his coach at Arizona State, Herm Edwards.
In fact, Edwards invoked a familiar name during a radio interview Friday when asked about Aiyuk’s speed.
“Jerry Rice, if you ran him in the 40, you go, ‘this guy can’t run,’” Edwards said on 957 The Game. “Jerry Rice in a football uniform, playing a football game? And I know, I tried to cover him -- you can’t catch him. That’s football speed. This guy (Aiyuk) has got football speed now. So don’t lose sight of that.”
Aiyuk’s 4.5 seconds in the 40 ranked 21st among receivers at the combine and in the 71st percentile for the position overall.
But his ability to make big plays for the Sun Devils speaks for itself. He averaged 11.1 yards after the catch during his standout senior season in 2019. Six of his eight touchdowns went longer than 30 yards including two that were longer than 80 yards.
His 1.57 seconds in the 10-yard split ranks in the 93rd percentile among wideouts, indicating he has explosive acceleration needed to be a dynamic addition to San Francisco’s offense. He was also one of the best jumpers at the combine with a 40-inch vertical (93rd percentile) and 128 inches in the broad jump (90th percentile).
“He’s got the speed to get on top (of the defense). He’s got the quickness to play in the slot,” Kyle Shanahan said Thursday. “He’s got the toughness to go over in the middle. And the guy is just completely committed to me in to being as good as God ever intended him to be.”
The relationship the 49ers have with Edwards helped the team get familiar with the 25th overall selection in Thursday night’s opening round.
“We are the godparents of his daughter. He is the godparent to my son,” Edwards said. “Our relationship goes back to 1996. We are very close with the Lynch family, very, very close.”
Aiyuk had surgery to repair a core muscle injury April 7 and is expected to be fully recovered in time for the start of training camp, which would normally begin in late July, though it’s unknown if the COVID-19 crisis will push things back. The injury didn’t impact his draft status.
The 49ers believed they had to move up six spots to take Aiyuk or risk losing him to another team. They traded their first-, fourth- and fifth-round picks to secure their replacement for Emmanuel Sanders.
“Herm was a tremendous guy to lean on,” Lynch said. “There was talk throughout the league that Aiyuk was one of the guys getting hot. And I think that’s just because people started just watching the film. And, albeit the one-year starter, what he put on film was extremely impressive and we decided to pounce and we gave up a lot for it and we sure hope it’s worth it, but he’s a guy that we value tremendously.”