Brandon Aiyuk injury update: 49ers WR reportedly suffered season-ending knee injury vs. Chiefs

San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk will miss the rest of the 2024 season due to a knee injury. NFL insider Jordan Schultz confirmed Aiyuk suffered a season-ending knee injury during the game against the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday.

Aiyuk was injured after catching a 15-year pass before halftime. During the play, Chiefs defensive back Chamarri Conner came in for a tackle that forced Aiyuk’s knee to bend back. The veteran receiver remained on the ground for several minutes while receiving medical attention. He was eventually carted off to the locker room.

After the game, 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan was “worried” that Aiyuk tore his ACL. “That’s what it looks like, but we don’t know for sure,” he said, per ESPN. “Been wrong before. So, praying that we are.”

Aiyuk caught 25 passes for 375 yards and no touchdowns in seven games this year. He was looking to have a big 2024 season after signing a four-year, $120 million contract extension with the 49ers in August.

Brandon Aiyuk signed a huge contract before the 2024 season

“We were thrilled to draft Brandon in 2020 and are now equally excited to have him in the fold for years to come,” 49ers general manager John Lynch said at the time. “Brandon is a special talent who is a warrior on the field and plays with a passion that we look for in 49ers. We look forward to Brandon continuing to be part of what we strive to accomplish as an organization.”

The journey of getting a new contract was long as Aiyuk reported to training camp in July and began a hold-in which was him attending meetings but not participating in practice. While speaking to reporters after the contract signing, Ayiuk admitted the hold-in made things awkward for all parties involved.

“It was tough,” he said, per NFL.com. “That was probably the hardest part about the whole thing, just because, at that point, you’ve got the rest of the team involved. I’m here every single day. They’re suiting up, getting ready to go out to practice, and I’m not. So that was the hard part. But on that same tone, I was able to be in meetings, and be able to go through all the stuff that they got to go through, and kind of still be involved. … So it was a little awkward, but I think it worked out how it needed to.”