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With the regular season starting in just over three weeks, the 49ers are feeling “urgency,” as general manager John Lynch told KNBR, to solve their ongoing Brandon Aiyuk dilemma that has featured the desire for a new contract, trade rumors and a lengthy hold-in that has stretched throughout training camp.
“It’s been a long, arduous, hard process, a hard journey,” Lynch said Friday, according to ESPN. “We started this early and for whatever reason haven’t been able to get it across the finish line. That’s been frustrating.
“But the communication has still been really good with Brandon and his agent, and we’re trying to figure out a solution. I’m always hopeful. I’m an optimistic person [by] nature, and so I’m always hopeful that we get there and get there soon. I can tell you we feel the urgency to have him. The season is approaching.”
Recently, that fix appeared to revolve around a trade, with NFL Network reporting Tuesday that there was a deal in place — pending San Francisco’s “final sign-off” — to send Aiyuk to the Steelers.
Aiyuk reportedly requested a trade last month before training camp began and the Patriots surfaced as a potential destination for the 26-year-old, but New England eventually removed itself from contention for Aiyuk — and a trade to the Steelers, or another NFL team, still hasn’t materialized.
He has spent all four of his NFL seasons with the 49ers and topped 1,000 yards in the last two, but the former first-round pick will need to play the 2024 campaign on a team option worth $14.124 million in base salary unless he gets a new contract.
“There’s not bad blood,” Lynch told KNBR, according to ESPN. “Negotiations can get heated. I think it’s his first time going through that, but no bad blood. I mean people that are here see Brandon out here, there’s a lot of love and respect for the relationship we’ve had and continue to have and hopefully will have into the future.”
The outlet added that Aiyuk participated in a conditioning session off to the side Friday, but he reportedly didn’t participate in team drills.
From the first day of the 49ers’ training camp, Kyle Shanahan hasn’t masked the fact that Aiyuk was holding in, but again on Friday, the head coach added that Aiyuk has been dealing with back soreness — using that as an explanation, in addition to the hold-in, for why he hasn’t been practicing to avoid fining Aiyuk, according to ESPN.
“I think it has to do with when they have injuries and stuff,” Shanahan said during his press conference, when asked at one point Aiyuk would get told he needed to practice or risk getting fined. “So I don’t sit there and kind of play that game. That’s how the league works right now. That’s how the rules are. You have a hold-in, guys usually have something wrong with them, so they can keep doing that. And so I just coach the team.”
The 49ers will host the Jets during a “Monday Night Football” game to open the season on Sept. 9.
