John Lynch "not sure" Brandon Aiyuk playing this year is realistic

The 49ers have four games left on their regular season schedule and the question of whether wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk will be playing in any of them came up on Tuesday. Aiyuk has spent the entire season on the physically unable to perform list due to the knee injury that he suffered during the 2024 season and the team has not opened his 21-day practice window at this point. The next time to do so would be after this week's bye, but General Manager John Lynch offered little reason to think it will happen then or at any point this season. "Realistic, I'm not sure," Lynch said on KNBR. "Hopeful, yeah. I think that's where I'd leave that . . . We're a better football team when Brandon's out there, but that's probably what it is, hope right now."The 49ers voided the remaining guarantees on Aiyuk's contract earlier this year, which head coach Kyle Shanahan said "doesn't have anything to do with [Aiyuk's] future" with the club. Given the injury and the contract situation, though, it may be more likely than not that Aiyuk's next appearance will come in a different uniform.