Everyone knows 49ers receiver Brandon Aiyuk is holding in. That he’d be practicing if his contract situation were resolved.
Everyone, apparently, except 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan.
Despite the fact that, in recent years, multiple players throughout the league have shown up and declined to practice due to their contract situations, Shanahan suggested again on Friday that Aiyuk isn’t practicing because he’s injured.
The topic came up when Shanahan was asked an important question about the hold in. At what point does the team say to the players, “It’s time to get to work or you’re getting fined?”
“I think it has to do with when they have injuries and stuff,” Shanahan told reporters. “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.”
Asked later to clarify the situation, Shanahan made it clear that Aiyuk is technically claiming that he’s injured.
“I’m just saying when you guys call it a hold-in, and I’m not disagreeing with you guys on that, but people say that they’re hurt,” Shanahan said. “I think B.A. has a sore back right now and it is what it is.”
What it is is a refusal by Aiyuk to risk injury until he gets a new contract from the 49ers or under he’s traded to a new team. Maybe it’s just a matter of semantics, a box-checking requirement that, in Shanahan’s mind, allows the player to not practice and allows the team to not fine him.
Or maybe it’s a device for Shanahan to process his irritation over the fact that Aiyuk is present but not practicing. If he tells himself Aiyuk is injured, Shanahan won’t have a pebble in his shoe over the fact that one of his key players is choosing not to work.
On July 22, when first asked about Aiyuk holding in, Shanahan said, “It just means his back is sore today and his neck is sore.” So, for Shanahan, Aiyuk has been injured throughout all of training camp. Even if he isn’t.
The broader concern is that a healthy player not practicing might undermine the effort to get the healthy (and somewhat banged up) players to go all out in order to get ready for Week 1. The 49ers have a collection of players who will roll out of bed and run through a wall. Having someone there who chooses not to run through the wall might make others ask themselves why they’re doing it.
Regardless, at some point the hold in does end. In this case, it likely will happen with a new contract or a trade. But it’s still possible (as former Bears linebacker Roquan Smith learned two years ago) that, at some point, the 49ers will say to Aiyuk, “Let’s go.”
For now, they’re not. In this specific case, it’s not likely to happen. If they don’t get a deal with Aiyuk before it’s time to get ready for Week 1, that’s likely when they’ll pull the trigger on a trade to the Steelers.
