San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan joined Bay Area radio station KNBR on Thursday. He was asked about the ongoing situation with wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk, who has been the subject of numerous trade discussions.
Aiyuk requested a trade before reporting to training camp and has refrained from practicing with his teammates while awaiting a resolution. He is set to earn $14.124 million on a fifth-year option but doesn't want to return to the field without the security of a long-term deal.
Aiyuk reportedly seeks a contract worth around $30 million annually, making him one of the NFL's highest-paid receivers. The 49ers, however, have not budged from their last offer, reportedly a deal that would pay Aiyuk about $26 million per year.
Shanahan acknowledged that the prolonged process wasn't entirely unexpected.
"I came into the situation understanding that it could be like this, so we prepared for that," Shanahan told Tom Tolbert and Kerry Crowley. "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."
The Pittsburgh Steelers and Cleveland Browns reportedly remain in the mix for Aiyuk. San Francisco even gave Aiyuk's agent permission to speak to other teams to negotiate a contract, potentially leading to a trade. However, nothing has been finalized, and Shanahan remains hopeful that a deal could still be worked out with his star receiver.
"In a perfect world, you'd love all that to happen," Shanahan said. "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."
If things don't work out with Aiyuk, the 49ers will try to get "fair value" for their receiver. Shanahan noted that this doesn't necessarily mean fair value for this season; it could mean fair value for the future.
"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 said. "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."
Shanahan believes the 49ers remain Super Bowl contenders, and Aiyuk staying with the team would boost their chances of reaching their ultimate goal.
When asked if he hopes the situation gets resolved soon, Shanahan responded, "I hope it is sooner than later, but right right now, I don't have any expectations. 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."
You can listen to the entire conversation with Shanahan below.
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