Here is the final injury report for the San Francisco 49ers:
Out:
LB Tatum Bethune (high-ankle sprain)
K Eddy Pineiro (hamstring)
Doubtful:
Edge rusher Robert Beal (concussion)
Questionable:
LB Luke Gifford
(hip/neck)
The first question Kyle Shanahan was asked was about the elephant in the room, Brandon Aiyuk. Shanahan answered without answering at first, saying, “Yeah, it’s week-to-week. Hoping he can clear all of the markers so he can come back and start his practice window.”
When asked if Aiyuk may have missed meetings or done something to upset the team, causing the 49ers to void Aiyuk’s 2026 guarantees, Shanahan confirmed it was true, but this happened back in the offseason:
Yes. That happened back in July, though. So, that was other things. But as far as missing meetings and things like that, any injured player, and people on IR or doing rehab, their schedule is totally different than the rest of the team.
Sometimes they’re involved in meetings, sometimes they’re not at all. Not gonna go through each thing with them, but anytime a guy is on IR and stuff, they’re not in the daily routine of meetings.
Yeah, he’s missed some. There have been other people on our team who have missed meetings before. But that doesn’t have anything to do with his contract.
Shanahan still believes Aiyuk will return and play for the team this season. When asked if the Niners and Aiyuk were on the same page when it comes to returning from his injury, Kyle said, “I can’t tell you that—not getting much dialogue, personally, between him and I. I’ve been told that it’s week to week, so each week I wait to see if he’s coming back to practice. I haven’t got that answer yet.”
According to Shanahan, there are still some markers that Aiyuk has to clear before returning. He’s technically not medically cleared yet.
Shanahan would not commit to saying Aiyuk is motivated to return:
“I don’t think that really matters. I think everyone may have a different opinion of that. I know, with the contract stuff, that happened back in July. I knew it was going to be a while for him to come back. I was hoping to get him back around this time. We’ve kinda been going about that. Just coaching the team, I don’t deal much with injured players. I was told a few weeks ago that he was getting closer, and we haven’t made progress in that so far. From my standpoint, I’m just waiting for him to get back to practice.”
Shanahan would not tell the media why Aiyuk’s guarantees were voided:
I’m not going to get into specifics with that. There were a number of things in July that to me, is more of a business side dealing with lawyers and stuff and contracts, and, stuff that is really not my area of expertise.
Shanahan said there was some disappointment, but not toward Brandon. More toward the situation: “Yeah, of course. I’ve been coaching for over 20 years. I’ve never been in a situation where a contract has been voided. It was extremely unusual.”
He said, “I’m not really there yet” when asked a follow-up about being let down by the way this situation has gone:
I know everyone got a lot of information yesterday. That was information that I found out in July, and kind of dealt with it then. To me, the contract stuff and guarantees and stuff, is really irrelavant to my relationship with player and my relationship with the team and what we’re trying to do this year.
I know I went through that stuff and talked about it to him a lot back in July. But since July, it’s been all about this season and hoping he could get healthy. And he’s been working to get healthy. I’ve been waiting for him to get back when he’s healthy.
Here’s what Shanahan said when asked how likely it is that Aiyuk would be with the 49ers next season:
Um, what happened in July, to me in my opinion, doesn’t have anything to do with the future. That has to do with circumstances that, to me, were out of a coach’s hand is the best way I can explain it when it comes to business matters and lawyers and contracts and things like that.
When it comes to the future of this, I would love for BA to be here. To get back and really helping us out and being a part of this team. We haven’t had that in a little bit. I still hold out hope and that he can get there. But he still hasn’t gotten there yet.
Shanahan said, “You can figure that out on your own,” when asked what it takes to get guarantees voided in a contract. He continued to reiterate that this was a first-time situation and that it was unusual.
Shanahan also brought up multiple times how “this happened three or four months ago” and that it’s been “completely out of sight, out of mind.” But acknowledged he understands getting questions about it since Aiyuk’s contract just became public information on Friday.
The frustration lies in not having one of your best players on the field:
“Any time you have a good player that has been a part of this team that players really love, coaches included, it’s frustrating that it’s not happening right now. When you talk about now and stuff, I kind of went through this frustration back in July. I thought after we went through that, things worked pretty well, and he would have a chance to come back and play for us. Still holding out hope.”
Will we see Brandon Aiyuk again this year?
