Niners' Shanahan admits Aiyuk's contract situation 'unusual' - ESPN

SANTA CLARA, Calif. — As the San Francisco 49ers and wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk careen toward a crossroads on their future together, plenty of important questions remain unanswered.

On Saturday afternoon, Niners coach Kyle Shanahan confirmed the team voided about $27 million in 2026 guarantees on Aiyuk's contract in late July and then spent most of his news conference fielding many of those leftover queries about Aiyuk's status. In the ensuing 11 minutes and 54 seconds, Shanahan alternated between offering insight and declining to provide specifics.

One thing is for certain: Shanahan isn't used to such an unusual scenario.

«I've been coaching over 20 years, and I've never been in a situation where a contract's been voided,» Shanahan said. «It's extremely unusual to me.»

The top question of the day was what exactly Aiyuk did (or didn't do) for such a drastic contract measure to be taken. Shanahan was asked repeatedly and offered hints, acknowledging that Aiyuk missed some meetings and team activities but also pointed out that players with significant injuries, like Aiyuk's right knee injury, don't always take part in all those things anyway.

Aiyuk was in the team facility doing rehab as recently as Friday, according to Shanahan.

Sources said that Aiyuk's voided guarantees were a result of him not living up to the terms of his contract, which could include questions about his participation in required rehab and team activities, though Shanahan indicated there was more to it without offering further details.

«It takes a lot of things to get a contract voided,» Shanahan said. «I've never dealt with that in my career and been in any building that's had that. It was unusual. But that's stuff that I can't get into right now.»