The San Francisco 49ers had quite an impressive season last year, finding a way to 13 wins despite dealing with a number of injuries once again. Stars like Fred Warner, Nick Bosa, George Kittle, and others dealt with long-term injuries, forcing a number of first and second-year players to step up into bigger roles.
But there were some positions that were clearly impacted. Defensively, the 49ers did not get enough pressure on the quarterback, ranking 32nd in sacks, which was a huge issue in getting
consistency on that side of the ball.
Offensively, the 49ers saw struggles at wide receiver, as they couldn’t get much production out of a group that included Ricky Pearsall, Kendrick Bourne, Demarcus Robinson, and others as their lead receivers. San Francisco was expected to have Brandon Aiyuk back midseason after his recovery from a torn ACL and MCL, but a dispute between him and the team led to his guarantees being voided and his departure.
The Aiyuk situation was an unheralded one, as the wideout had just signed a four-year, $120 million extension one year prior, and his teammates were left in an unknown situation.
“He was kind of at training camp, kind of not,” Kittle said on the Bussin’ with the Boys this week, via CBS Sports. “Then he was in and out of the building throughout those first couple of weeks. I’d sort of go out to see him in the weight room because he didn’t go into the locker room and training room anymore. He would just go to the weight room to do his rehab.
“I’d just go out there and talk to him because he didn’t go to meetings or anything like that. I would just talk to him like, ‘Hey, I’m your guy. Just letting you know I love you.’ I started doing that, call it Week 6. I don’t really know what week it was. And then literally a week later that story came out, like all the crazy stuff. And then I didn’t see him again.
“That’s not something I bring up to John Lynch and Kyle Shanahan very often. That’s on you guys, and I just try to be there for the players if there’s something going on. You always want to be there for the boys. I don’t know what’s going on with Brandon. I don’t know what he’s thinking. I really have no idea.”
Lynch confirmed that the 49ers will be moving off Aiyuk this season after voiding his guarantees, and San Francisco quickly looked to upgrade the position by adding Mike Evans and Christian Kirk this offseason.
But, that was still quite the situation for the locker room to deal with in real time, making it even more impressive that the team rallied to 13 wins last season.
