It seems like the San Francisco 49ers and wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk are headed towards a split, but head coach Kyle Shanahan seems like he may be an a much different page than the front office when it comes to this whole saga.
Reporting in The Athletic suggests the Niners plan to release Aiyuk after this season following the shocking decision to void his guaranteed money in 2026. The fact that Aiyuk, at least for right now, is not planning to challenge this decision seems to point to a desire from both sides to move on.
However, Shanahan said he is hoping his team can still get Aiyuk back on the field at some point this season, which seems like wishful (if not delusional, if you are being less charitable) thinking, to say the least. If all this reporting is true, there does not seem to be any desire for Aiyuk to get back on the field and there is not really any incentive for him to do so at this point.
Sure, if he is going to be released, then maybe he would want to get back on the field to play a little bit and show potential suitors in free agency that he can still play coming off a major knee injury last season.
But playing at all brings the risk of injury, which could mean no team would want to take a chance on him. That is probably not a risk he wants to take, and he probably has no desire to help a Niners squad that he has had an acrimonious relationship with.
Reporting out there suggests that it is up to Aiyuk if he wants to play, but it just doesn't seem likely he is going to suit up for San Francisco ever again at this point.
Shanahan's comments may seem out of step with the situation, but maybe there is nothing else for the coach to say at this point. He has been out of lockstep with the front office on Aiyuk for a while, though. When the 49ers had a trade in place to deal Aiyuk amid the prolonged and overly dramatic contract talks after the 2023 season, Shanahan intervened because he did not want to lose Aiyuk.
That decision looks like a poor one now.
Understandably, Shanahan wants as many good football players and offensive weapons on the roster as he can get, but he may have let his emotions cloud his judgment with Aiyuk.
Shanahan may be hoping for the best, or at least publicly suggesting that is what he is hoping for, but at this point a split between the two sides simply feels inevitable.