SANTA CLARA – Coach Kyle Shanahan got peppered Saturday with 23 questions about injured wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk’s darkening future with the 49ers, two days before they host a prime-time game with playoff implications against Carolina.
Shanahan confirmed the 49ers voided Aiyuk’s 2026 guaranteed money of $25 million-plus, and while not revealing what precisely led to that contractual rebuke, it occurred three months ago at the onset of training camp.
“With the contract stuff, that happened back in July,” Shanahan said after Saturday’s practice. “I knew it’d be a while for him to come back (from an October 2024 knee injury). I was hoping to get him back around 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 is still classified as “week to week” for a potential return from Injured Reserve. He hasn’t been seen by the media on the practice field in any capacity since Sept. 30, and Shanahan said he’s “not getting much dialogue just personally between him and I.”
Regardless, there’s chatter now that Aiyuk won’t be back for 2026. Shanahan, however, claimed he “would love” to retain Aiyuk as a healthy contributor.
“What happened in July to me, in my opinion, doesn’t have anything to do with the future,” Shanahan said. “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 teammates expressed affection for Aiyuk’s welfare, both physically and mentally amid his comeback attempt from a devastating knee injury on Oct. 20, 2024.
“I think he’s doing fine. It’s hard because he’s a quiet guy and to himself,” said wide receiver Ricky Pearsall, who’s known 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 wide 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 as the projected starting wide receivers, and that will be the case Monday as the 49ers (7-4) prepare to host the Carolina Panthers (6-4) on Monday night (5:15 p.m., ABC/ESPN).
Left tackle Trent Williams, the lone captain to speak in Saturday’s open locker room session, said: “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 recently as Friday, according to Shanahan, who noted that the sixth-year receiver has stayed away from meetings for reason only known to Aiyuk. Shanahan said other injured players often skip meetings, too, and that is not what led to July’s contract shift.
Once training camp began, Aiyuk very visibly ran alongside wide receivers in warmups and he even caught a few routes in the preliminary warmups before the Aug. 16 preseason game in Las Vegas. Also, teammates and coaches had lauded him for his coach-like mentorship in meetings before 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 said. “It was really good watching him run around and potentially be on the field at the same time.
“It’s a really rough injury. It’s his knee. He’s a receiver,” said Pearsall, who missed six games with his own knee injury before last 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.”
Indeed, Aiyuk’s comeback and his long-term future with the Niners appear squashed. The voiding of his guarantees, as first reported by The Athletic, came with no legislative rebuttal from Aiyuk, who held out the 2024 training camp until agreeing to a four-year, $120 million extension.
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.”
Back when the 2024 season approached, Aiyuk agreed Aug. 29 to a long-standing contract offer, and Shanahan promptly dashed upstairs to the personnel department to scuttle a potential trade to the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Aiyuk, a 2020 first-round pick, got injured seven games into the 2024 season, doomed by the impact of a Chiefs defensive back who tore multiple ligaments and the meniscus in Aiyuk’s right knee. He didn’t score on any of his 25 catches (374 yards) that year, but he did break out with an eight-catch, 147-yard outing against Arizona two weeks before his injury.
Whatever happened in late July, it complicated matters, or perhaps 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 said. “So, it was extremely unusual to me.”
NOTABLE
— The 49ers ruled out linebacker Tatum Bethune (ankle) and kicker Eddy Piñeiro (hamstring); doubtful is defensive end 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 starting center Cade Mays (ankle).