SANTA CLARA – Coach Kyle Shanahan acquired peppered Saturday with 23 questions on injured large receiver Brandon Aiyuk’s darkening future with the 49ers, two days earlier than they host a prime-time recreation with playoff implications in opposition to Carolina.
Shanahan confirmed the 49ers voided Aiyuk’s 2026 assured cash of $25 million-plus, and whereas not revealing what exactly led to that contractual rebuke, it occurred three months in the past on the onset of coaching camp.
“With the contract stuff, that happened back in July,” Shanahan stated after Saturday’s apply. “I knew it’d be some time for him to return again (from an October 2024 knee harm. I hoped to get him again round this time.
“I’ve been coaching the team and I don’t deal much with injured players,” Shanahan added. “I was told a few weeks ago he was getting closer. We haven’t progressed in that way so far. From my standpoint, I’m just waiting for him to get back to practice.”
Thus, Aiyuk remains to be categorised as “week to week” for a possible return from Injured Reserve. He hasn’t been seen by the media on the apply area in any capability since Sept. 30, and Shanahan stated he’s “not getting much dialogue just personally between him and I.”
Regardless, there’s chatter now that Aiyuk gained’t be again for 2026. Shanahan, nonetheless, claimed he “would love” to retain Aiyuk as a wholesome contributor.
“What happened in July to me, in my opinion, doesn’t have anything to do with the future,” Shanahan stated. “It had to do with circumstances that, to me, were out of a coach’s hand the best way I can explain it when it comes to business matters and lawyers and contracts and things like that.”
The ninth-year coach and several other teammates expressed affection for Aiyuk’s welfare, each bodily and mentally amid his comeback try from a devastating knee harm on Oct. 20, 2024.
“I think he’s doing fine. It’s hard because he’s a quiet guy and to himself,” stated large receiver Ricky Pearsall, who’s recognized Aiyuk since their 2019 Arizona State days. “But as much as I can, I reach out and show love his way, because he’s done that throughout my journey.”
Added fellow large receiver Jauan Jennings: “B, as far as I know, has been getting great rehab and just being B. I guess (his contract) is something between him and the organization. I talk to him and tell him I hope he’s healing up.”
Pearsall and Jennings entered this season because the projected beginning large receivers, and that would be the case Monday because the 49ers (7-4) put together to host the Carolina Panthers (6-4) on Monday night time (5:15 p.m., ABC/ESPN).
Left sort out Trent Williams, the lone captain to talk in Saturday’s open locker room session, stated: “I love B like a brother and I’m not going to comment on his situation.”
Aiyuk, 27, continued to report for morning rehabilitation as just lately as Friday, based on Shanahan, who famous that the sixth-year receiver has stayed away from conferences for cause solely recognized to Aiyuk. Shanahan stated different injured gamers typically skip conferences, too, and that’s not what led to July’s contract shift.
As soon as coaching camp started, Aiyuk very visibly ran alongside large receivers in warmups and he even caught a number of routes within the preliminary warmups earlier than the Aug. 16 preseason recreation in Las Vegas. Additionally, teammates and coaches had lauded him for his coach-like mentorship in conferences earlier than the season.
“I don’t really know the logistics of what went on behind closed doors, but seeing him out there on the field warming up and running around, it made me happy because I know what he’s been through with his knee,” Pearsall stated. “It was actually good watching him run round and doubtlessly be on the sector on the similar time.
“It’s a really rough injury. It’s his knee. He’s a receiver,” stated Pearsall, who missed six video games along with his personal knee harm earlier than final Sunday’s return. “That’s not an easy thing to come back from, physically, mentally. He looked good and I’d always tell him that. It sucks the way it is right now because I’d love to be teammates with him.”
Certainly, Aiyuk’s comeback and his long-term future with the Niners seem squashed. The voiding of his ensures, as first reported by The Athletic, got here with no legislative rebuttal from Aiyuk, who held out the 2024 coaching camp till agreeing to a four-year, $120 million extension.
San Francisco 49ers’ Brandon Aiyuk watches teammates throughout apply on the 49ers coaching camp on the apply facility at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif., on Thursday, July 24, 2025. (Doug Duran/Bay Space Information Group)
Added Shanahan: “I know everyone got a lot of information yesterday. That was information I found out in July, and kind of dealt with it then. And to me, the contract stuff is really irrelevant to my relationship with the player and my relationship with our team, I went through that stuff and talked to him a lot about it back in July. But since July, it’s been all about this season and hoping he would get healthy, and he’s been working to get healthy.”
Again when the 2024 season approached, Aiyuk agreed Aug. 29 to a long-standing contract provide, and Shanahan promptly dashed upstairs to the personnel division to scuttle a possible commerce to the Pittsburgh Steelers.
San Francisco 49ers’ Brandon Aiyuk (11) is injured after making a catch in opposition to Kansas Metropolis Chiefs’ Trent McDuffie (22) and Kansas Metropolis Chiefs’ Chamarri Conner (27) within the second quarter at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif., on Sunday, Oct. 20, 2024. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Space Information Group)
Aiyuk, a 2020 first-round decide, acquired injured seven video games into the 2024 season, doomed by the influence of a Chiefs defensive again who tore a number of ligaments and the meniscus in Aiyuk’s proper knee. He didn’t rating on any of his 25 catches (374 yards) that yr, however he did escape with an eight-catch, 147-yard outing in opposition to Arizona two weeks earlier than his harm.
No matter occurred in late July, it sophisticated issues, or maybe simplified a 2026 breakup.
“I’ve been coaching over 20 years and I’ve never been in a situation where a contract’s been voided,” Shanahan stated. “So, it was extremely unusual to me.”
— The 49ers dominated out linebacker Tatum Bethune (ankle) and kicker Eddy Piñeiro (hamstring); uncertain is defensive finish Robert Beal Jr. (concussion); and, questionable is linebacker Luke Gifford (neck, shoulder).
Panthers linebackers Trevin Wallace (shoulder) and Christian Rozeboom (hip, hamstring) are out, as is beginning middle Cade Mays (ankle).
