Kyle Shanahan: Brandon Aiyuk, 49ers hoping for resolution together despite financial hurdles

Aug 9, 2024, 6:00 AM | Updated: 8:37 am

PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA - DECEMBER 03: Head coach Kyle Shanahan of the San Francisco 49ers speaks with Brandon Aiyuk #11 prior to the game against the Philadelphia Eagles at Lincoln Financial Field on December 03, 2023 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Tim Nwachukwu/Getty Images)

(Photo by Tim Nwachukwu/Getty Images)

BY AMILIANO FRAGOSO

San Francisco 49ers Beat Writer

While the 49ers and Brandon Aiyuk have been at odds for some time now, Kyle Shanahan still believes a contract extension is the best result for both parties.

The San Francisco 49ers’ coach was candid during an interview with KNBR’s Tolbert & Copes Thursday. Shanahan peeled back the curtain a bit on the team’s ongoing standoff with Aiyuk, breaking down some of the factors that have played a role this time around.

Of course, both sides seem headed for a split, stuck at an impasse of dollar figures. One side wants to be paid as a top-5 wide receiver (Aiyuk), while the other is attempting to keep a majority of the team’s core together for the long haul.

Unfortunately, one seemingly can’t have the other, with trade talks now taking place for Aiyuk. Despite talks between player and front office souring, the coach still believes a return to the table is possible, holding out hope that his player will remain on the 49ers long-term.

But again, there’s always more factors at play than it seems.

From what I’m hearing:

49ers want more than Steelers are currently willing to give

49ers want a WR in return.. Steelers don’t exactly have one to spare.

Aiyuk wants to go to Steelers

Both GMs are waiting for the other to give in.

Feels like it’s a standoff and no idea…

— Tone Digs (@ToneDigz) August 9, 2024

“In a perfect world, you’d love all that to happen,” Kyle Shanahan said about Brandon Aiyuk remaining with the 49ers long-term Thursday. “But there’s a lot of sides to it. There’s us, what we want, it’s what he wants. There’s a whole contract and stuff to that. It’s the tough business part of this league, and some years it can be harder than others. This is a very difficult one, but it’s something you’re always holding out hope for.”

Aiyuk and his camp made the surprising decision to hold-in during contract talks, keeping the daily fines away for the time being. The wide receiver has been alert in team meetings and all other 49ers’ activities.

Except for the most important one: Playing football.

While his teammates have been building chemistry for weeks on the giridiron, Aiyuk has watched from afar, regularly seen out at training camp. He spent one day watching 20 minutes of move-the-ball drills with general John Lynch by his side. Another he chopped it up with injuried 49ers’ safety Talanoa Hufanga from the shaded far end-zone of The SAP Practice Facility.

The fifth-year WR has done everything the 49ers have asked of him up until this point. Except pay him his market value.

And until then, he remains off the field, leaving Kyle Shanahan both frustrated and composed in his approach to the whole ordeal.

“You’re always frustrated when a guy’s not [on the field],” the coach stated. “I came into the situation understanding that it could be like this, so we prepared for that,” Shanahan stated. “I try to treat it as I’ve been in situations where you have everything set in your head, how it’s going to go and stuff, and then, all of a sudden, someone tears an ACL or gets hurt. Someone you were counting on being there, and you got to adjust. And so, when you come into a camp like that, you kind of just treat it like that’s how it is, and you try to treat each day like that.

“The good thing is he didn’t (get hurt), so you’re always holding out hope that it all can work out, and you can get back to what you were hoping for. But you take it one day at a time and you try to let it all take care of itself. But this is something that wasn’t a surprise going in.”

Shanahan has always been a forward-thinker, carefully calculating his next move for his team. But his direct demeanor has some drawbacks at times, as reports indicate player and coach in disagree over how the situation has transpired.

Because of that, Shanahan and Lynch are pivoting, finding worthy trade partners should Aiyuk decide he is done with the Red & Gold. Nothing has been agreed upon yet, despite multiple fallacious reports.

But if that’s the route both player and organization decide to go, all parties involved will look for maximum value upon departure.

“If it doesn’t work out, you always try as hard as you can to get fair value. Whether it’s fair value for the future, fair value for now, you’re always hoping that it’s both, and there’s got to be two teams tied to that, and B.A.’s also got to agree on that, too,” Shanahan explained. “So anytime that takes three things, it’s not that easy. That’s why we’re looking at every possibility and really hoping that, when it’s all said and done, it’s the best thing for the 49ers and the best thing for B.A.”

The statement itself makes sense standalone: It takes two sides to tango, and three components to be satisfied.

But given that we know the context around the situation for both Aiyuk and Shanahan & Co, wouldn’t the best scenario be to iron out a deal long-term?

Obviously, there are salary cap hurdles in the way, the 49ers are $38 million over the cap for 2025 already. Quarterback Brock Purdy is up for a new mega deal after 2024, both of SF’s starting cornerbacks will be free agents next spring. And who can forget hall-of-fame left tackle Trent Williams is currently holding out for guaranteed money.

Regardless, Brandon Aiyuk knows how valuable he is to the team’s success, especially Purdy. That was the gunslinger’s biggest weapon in 2023, commanding 39% of the targets. The wideout finished the year second in yards per catch (17.9), while only bringing in 75 receptions.

Aiyuk has played like a WR1 for two years now, and yet his own team apparently isn’t willing to pay him what other teams will.

“You have a team willing to pay B.A. a little more than $32 million [annually] & he’s not even asking that much from his own team,” T.J. Houshmandzadeh, Aiyuk’s WR coach and close friend said on 95.7 The Game Thursday. “You wouldn’t give him $28M a year, but you’d give $26M? That’s nothing!”

“I just want the 49ers to realize what they have. Kyle Shanahan, fix this situation. It’s disheartening when other teams are willing to pay so much more than your own team, but you’re still willing to take LESS to stay.”

– @housh84 on @WillardAndDibs.

🎧 https://t.co/UGx8FY5RGB pic.twitter.com/RgSaZSTcgI

— 95.7 The Game (@957thegame) August 9, 2024

Presumably, the former wideout is referring to the Pittsburgh Steelers’ expected offer if a trade would be executed with the 49ers.

If those numbers are in fact true (we may never know), then the 49ers’ reluctance to raise their price by two million dollars seems outlandish. But it’s not just two million, it’s $8-$10 million in total, with an unknown increase in fully guaranteed money as well. And after the past few years of spending big money and no Super Bowl ring, 49ers’ CEO Jed York may be more hesitant to write the check.

That’s what happens when you lose The Big One (twice in five years): Tough personnel calls have to be made.

Yet the bottom line still remains the same in this situation: Brandon Aiyuk and the 49ers do not want to break up if they don’t have to.

“I don’t want to get in the middle of it, but I do know this: I think both parties would like this to get done, bottom line,” Aiyuk’s former college coach, Herm Edwards, also said Thursday on 95.7 The Game.

Unfortunately, that might not be enough to overcome what could be best for all parties involved.

So for the time being, we wait. The 49ers under John Lynch have been notorious for dragging out contract decisions into the late summer; Why shouldn’t this be any different?

As for how Kyle Shanahan is handling the situation with Brandon Aiyuk? He isn’t really a part of it, focused on taking training camp one day at a time, with the players he has on the field.

“I hope it is sooner than later, but right now, I don’t have any expectations,” he said. “That’s kind of how I stay sane and focus on being a good coach for our team. If I sit there, and come in every morning, and expect something to happen, and sitting there just waiting on and thinking about it, that’s when I won’t do my job the right way as a head coach of this team.

“So I hope it does. Man, that would be awesome to wake up one day and know we have this solved. But I try to come in each day, and unless there’s something relevant or something that has happened that I got to be a part of and really discuss, which doesn’t happen very much right now, then I’m trying to keep it in back in my mind, kind of out of it, and just focus on the players that are here right now.”

💻 @MikeGarafolo

Brandon Aiyuk goes to Pittsburgh? Cleveland? Stays with 49ers? Holds out through Week 1?#NFL #HereWeGo #DawgPound #FTTB pic.twitter.com/DQGuqwJrnL

— Rich Eisen Show (@RichEisenShow) August 8, 2024