League-wide recognition has been largely lacking for Brandon Aiyuk in his career despite the 49ers wide receiver playing an increasing pivotal role on offense for one of the NFL's heavyweights.

That changed on Wednesday, when Aiyuk was named the NFC Offensive Player of the Week following his outstanding performance in the season-opening road win over the Steelers.

Aiyuk caught all eight of his targets from Brock Purdy for 129 yards and two touchdowns. He was the only NFL receiver with 100 yards and two touchdown catches in Week 1.

It is the first time Aiyuk has won the award. He is the third 49er to do so in Week 1, following in the footsteps of Jerry Rice (1994) and Anquan Boldin (2013).

Last season, Aiyuk surpassed 1,000 yards receiving for the first time in his NFL career. He also caught eight touchdown passes.

He achieved that feat while recording just one 100-yard performance, which came in a Week 17 overtime win over the Raiders.

This year, Aiyuk already has one three-figure showing under his belt and is a quarter of the way to his touchdown total from last season. Maintaining such a pace will be difficult in an attack with as many weapons as that of San Francisco, but one week into the campaign the 2020 first-round pick is well on his way to surpassing last season's career highs and gaining more widespread acclaim as one of the game's premier wide receivers.

Javon Kinlaw needed only one play to signal a long-awaited step forward in 2023

He quickly made an impact in Week 1.

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