DOUBLE TROUBLE

Samuel, Aiyuk among NFL’s most dynamic young duos

- Craig Massei

The rumble-and-tumble, search-and-destroy, crash-and-bang flair and bravura of Deebo Samuel.

The elegant-striding, wide-reach precision, breakaway finesse and multi-dimensional gracefulness of Brandon Aiyuk.

That’s a diverse and lethal combination punch from San Francisco’s wide receiver position that promises to do a lot of damage throughout the NFL for several years to come.

The original design was for the hits to start coming from this versatile duo of young wideouts from the moment the 49ers began their 2020 journey in September as defending NFC champions.

But like so many things that have gone awry for the 49ers in this crazy season marred by unprecedented injuries and a worldwide pandemic, the developmental blueprint for Aiyuk and Samuel as a complementary tandem to spark San Francisco’s passing game didn’t exactly go according to plan.

“Definitely hasn’t matched up with my expectations for this year,” Aiyuk said during the second week of December. “But everybody knows this year is a lot different than years in the past. Pretty much this whole year, we understand, is not a normal year. The circumstances haven’t been what we want or thought they’d be, so we just continue to roll with what we’re getting.”

And to be sure, what the 49ers haven’t gotten enough of this season is the explosive mixture of Aiyuk and Samuel on the field together.

That’s a concoction the 49ers had heavily anticipated being a regular component of their offense after they traded up in the first round of the 2020 NFL draft to select Aiyuk with the No. 25 overall pick, one year after San Francisco drafted Samuel in the second round with the No. 36 overall pick.