San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan spoke to reporters following Saturday's practice, providing insight into the Brandon Aiyuk situation and sharing final updates ahead of the team's Week 12 matchup against the Carolina Panthers. Here's everything he said.
Transcript provided by the San Francisco 49ers Communications staff.
Opening comments:
"All right guys. For the game, [LB] Tatum [Bethune] will be out, [K] Eddy Piñeiro, out, [DL] Robert Beal [Jr.], doubtful, [LB] Luke Gifford, questionable. Go ahead."
Can you describe what WR Brandon Aiyuk's status is with the team right now?
"Yeah, it's week-to-week. Hoping he can clear all the markers so he can come back and start his practice window."
Has he missed either meetings or workout sessions or rehab things, anything that would've upset the team in any way? Have you removed his bonus for next season, the option bonus?
"Yes, that happened back in July though, so that was other things. But, as far as missing meetings, things like that, any injured player, people who are on IR or doing rehab, their schedule's totally different than the rest of the team. So, sometimes they're involved in meetings, sometimes they're not at all. I'm not going to go through each thing with him, but anytime a guy's on IR and stuff, they're not in the daily routine of meetings."
But, he has missed them?
"Yeah, he has missed them. There's been other people on our team that have missed meetings before, but that doesn't have anything to do with his contract."
Is there still potential that he could return and play games?
"Yeah."
Are the team and him on the same page in terms of where he's at from an injury perspective? Does he think he's ahead of what you guys do or vice versa?
"I can't tell you that. I'm not getting much dialogue just personally between him and I and have been told that it's week-to-week. So, each week I wait to see if he's ready to come back for practice and haven't got that answer yet."
So is he medically cleared by you guys?
"No, he is not. Yeah, there's still markers he's got to pass."
Do you and the organization feel that he's motivated to come back and play this season?
"I don't think that really matters. I think everyone might have a different opinion of that. I've known, 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 and we've kind of been going about that. Like coaching the team, I don't really deal much with injured players. I was told a few weeks ago he was getting closer and we haven't made progress in that way so far. So, from my standpoint, I'm just waiting for him to get back to practice."
Can you share why his guarantee was voided?
"No, I can't."
What happened in July to cause that voiding?
"I'm not going to get into specifics of that. There was a number of things from 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."
This is a guy, obviously the team felt and you felt good enough to give a very large contract not very long ago. Is there disappointment that it's gotten to this with Brandon and the 49ers?
"Yeah, of course. I've been coaching over 20 years and I've never been in a situation where a contract's been voided. So, it was extremely unusual to me."
Personally, I imagine you were very in support of him getting a new contract. We know how weird that negotiation was, but do you feel let down by the situation?
"I'm not really there yet. 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. And to me, the contract stuff and guarantees and things like that is irrelevant to my relationship with the player and my relationship with our team and what we're trying to do this year. I know 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 and I've been waiting for him to come back when he is healthy."
Is it realistic to expect a player to come back and play once his guarantees have been voided?
"I don't know. I've never been in that situation. So, I really don't think about that. I just think about people coming back when they're healthy."
You can look at that mechanism and say it's very unlikely he would be on the team next year. How likely do you view that as a possible scenario?
"What happened in July to me, in my opinion, doesn't have anything to do with the future. 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. When it comes to the future of this, I would love for B.A. to be here. I would love for him to get healthy and get back to really helping us out and being a part of this team. We haven't had that in a little bit and I still hold out hope that he can get there. But, he obviously hasn't gotten there yet."
With his contract, can you say in any way if it was tied to any sort of contact or behavior from him?
"No, I think you can figure that out yourself. It takes a lot of things to get a contract voided. I don't even know, honestly, I've never dealt with that in my career or been in any building that's had that. So it was unusual, but that's stuff that I can't get into right now."
You had Brandon and you had Washington Commanders WR Deebo Samuel Sr. both in their twenties, both highly productive players. The idea that obviously Deebo has been traded and what we don't know what's going to happen with Brandon after this season. Does it feel like a loss? Does it feel like something really weird happened here to get to this point or is it a natural occurrence? These were two really important players for this team, one of them already has gone, do you have any sense on what's happened here?
"I think in Deebo's case, I think it's very hard for teams in the NFL to keep two very high-priced receivers. And I think both of those guys were like that when they hit their market. So, that's why you don't see that on many teams. I think that's pretty normal. What you guys found out yesterday or that was public, I know that's unusual, so I get all those questions about it. But, that is something that happened three or four months ago, whenever that was and something that's been completely out of sight, out of mind in terms of a contract. The only thing I've been thinking about is hoping he can get healthy and come back and play for us."
I think it was early in training camp, you spoke about Brandon being engaged in the team meetings, being around the team. What changed?
"You'd have to ask him that."
Is he still doing rehab in the mornings and then getting out of here? Is he going to meetings at all?
"Not meetings, but I didn't check today. I know he was at rehab yesterday though."
Is there any concern about him as a person? The story yesterday mentioned that some of the other players have reached out to him to try to kind of bring him back into the locker room?
"I don't think it's the right platform to talk about concerns for a person, but concerned about all people on our team. We do care a lot about B.A., but rather not talk about that."
When you were saying he was kind of engaged with the team, was that more of a conversation that the team had to have with him or like what is the difference?
"You'd have to ask him that. But no, he was a lot more involved in stuff back in training camp and things like that. It's a long year when you guys rehab. We start to go through our game plan meetings, which is why a lot of guys on IR aren't involved in many meetings until they get closer to play. And we hope that he's getting closer to play, but he hasn't got there yet."
How do you feel about just what you have going in Monday Night that you've had for the last couple months in terms of the receiving corps essentially at full staff now without Brandon?
"I feel real good. I think our guys have stepped it up all year. We've been in a lot of tough situations, especially earlier on when we lost [WR] Ricky [Pearsall] and [WR] Jauan [Jennings] not being healthy, [WR Demarcus Robinson] D-Rob's on his suspension. So, I think guys, [WR Kendrick Bourne] K.B., [WR] Skyy [Moore], all these guys have stepped it up big time. Even the tight ends, with [TE George] Kittle going out, [TE] Luke [Farrell] stepped it up and I think J.J.'s at his healthiest point right now that he has been all year, which is awesome. And getting Ricky back last week is a huge step for us."
OL Dominick Puni hasn't been on the injury report, but it seems like he's playing a little bit better. Is it because his health has gotten better?
"Yeah, no doubt. I mean, he had a serious injury back in training camp. I think he missed like three weeks and got cleared for Week 1. You guys have been doing this long enough too. Usually when a guy misses camp because of injury it takes him a while and he's battled through that. I know he played through a lot of stuff early on, getting back. But, I really feel now he's playing at his highest level, the best he's been all year and I've seen him improve here over the last four weeks."
When you win the coin toss you always defer and go on defense first. At this point, with all the injuries on defense and all your offensive guys mainly coming back, would you think about taking the ball first if you win the coin toss? Or is it just strictly you're going to defer and take the ball to start the second half?
"Well, I usually side with the analytics of what gives you the best percentage to have the most possessions. If we got really worried about the other team scoring first and we thought being down 3-0, 7-0 was the biggest difference, then I would choose to have the ball. I don't think really in any absolutes, but, it is hard to convince me that the best chance to win is the best percentage of having the ball the most."
I have a former NFL WR Ed McCaffrey question. I know that you admired him when you were a teenager. Were you thinking at that point that this could be somebody that I could be like, I could be an Ed McCaffery in 10 years, that sort of thing?
"I did because I didn't know enough about football. I idolized Ed and [former Denver Broncos WR] Rod [Smith], but that ship sailed I think when I was an insecure, very skinny junior and I was talking to Ed and thinking he'd make me feel better and I was like, 'Man, how much did you weigh in high school? You were pretty skinny too. When did you get all big?' And he was like, 'I was a tight end in high school. I had to lose weight when I went to college.' And that's when I realized even though I should have on my own, that we're not at all the same guy."
You mentioned that the team's obviously better with Brandon Aiyuk. How frustrating is it when the business of the League overrides the sport?
"I don't know. I mean, any time you have a good player that has been a part of this team that guys have really loved and coaches included, it's frustrating that that's not happening right now. But, when you talk about now and stuff, I kind of went through some of this frustration back in July. But, I thought after we went through that I thought things went pretty well that we would have a chance for him to come back and play for us and still holding out hope on that."
That would be July before training camp?
"Yeah, right when training camp started. So, whatever that date is, it's that week of July."
When you had that conversation with Brandon in July about his contract situation, was your focus on trying to eliminate that as a distraction?
"Yeah, I think it was a while ago. But no, it was more just when big things happen, you want to talk to guys about it, see where they're at about it, catch up on it, like understand what's going on and get on the same page and I think that's really what it was about."