CAPTAIN SANTA CLARA: Coach Kyle Shanahan of the San Francisco 49ers announced on Tuesday that wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk has been granted permission by the organization to discuss possible new terms with other teams. According to a league source who spoke with The Athletic on Monday, several clubs have gotten in touch with the 49ers about dealing for Aiyuk, but no deal has been finalized yet.
Trade negotiations for Aiyuk, a contentious issue leading up to the draft in April, have lately heated up once more. The 49ers are not any closer to reaching an agreement with their top receiver despite being in the third week of training camp and hosting their first preseason game this week. The Pittsburgh Steelers have emerged as a potential destination, but the Cleveland Browns and New England Patriots were the main suitors over the weekend, according numerous sources.
Prior to Tuesday, the 49ers had insisted that they intended to keep Aiyuk, who concluded the previous season with a career-high 1,342 receiving yards, but they also stated that they would entertain offers in regards to a possible trade. Since training camp began, Aiyuk has been a “hold-in”; he shows up for meetings but has not participated in any workouts since the offseason program started in the spring. Because of this, he has been spared the daily fines associated with missing training camp, and Shanahan verified Aiyuk’s presence in the building on Tuesday.
Shanahan believes that this story could go in a lot of different directions, one of them being Aiyuk signing a new contract with the 49ers.
“You’re always disappointed when you can’t keep ahold of all your players and it’s not going exactly right,” Shanahan said Tuesday. “I don’t like losing anybody, so that’s why I am hoping it does work out here. But right now, we don’t have that solved.”
The team and the receiver have only recently discussed business through the front office, despite Shanahan’s statement that he spoke with Aiyuk about the contract situation early in the summer. Shanahan added that if Aiyuk were sent away, it would be challenging for the 49ers to make immediate improvements to their team.
“Brandon’s a great player, so it’s really hard to be better when you lose a great player,” he said.
The 49ers claim that they are being cautious as the scenario develops in light of this.
“Calculated and prepared,” Shanahan said when asked about his emotions during this standoff with Aiyuk. “You want everybody out there. You truly understand the business side of our league and what these guys do and what they have to go through in these deals. Whether it’s a hold-in or a holdout, this stuff is pretty common and you’ve just got to be patient with it as a coach.”
The rookie contract of Aiyuk expires in March, after which he becomes an unrestricted free agent. The 2020 first-round pick has caught 269 passes for 3,931 yards and 25 touchdowns in his four-year career.
Just a few days before the 2023 regular season got underway, defensive end Nick Bosa, who had been out of the game for 43 days, finally signed a record-breaking contract with the 49ers. He talked about his experience on Tuesday.
“As it got closer and closer, it gets pretty dicey,” Bosa said. “But I definitely didn’t want to get traded. It’s a good place to be, for sure. I’m very grateful to be paid and here. Because I don’t think there’s many other organizations that are as good as this one.”
Bosa waited until the end of training camp and the preseason to report after his contract was fulfilled in Week 1. Aiyuk is approaching things differently; while the receiver has participated fully in team meetings, he is staging a “hold-in” and is not taking part in practice.
Bosa claimed he spoke with Aiyuk during camp, but only as a friend and that he was unaware of any talks about a contract. Bosa did, however, weigh in on the risks associated with the 49ers possibly dealing Aiyuk.
“I think it’d be a huge loss,” he said. “I trust John (Lynch) and Kyle, but he’s a very tough player to replace.”
(Photo: Cooper Neill / Getty Images)
