Fred Warner was asked Wednesday for his reaction to the news that Brandon Aiyuk intends to return to the 49ers’ facility on Friday.
The veteran linebacker said:
Thanks for the submission!
“Yeah. I don’t know if I really have anything to say about it. Kind of let that work itself out.”
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Aiyuk filed paperwork to be reinstated from the reserve/left squad list on Wednesday, his agent Drew Rosenhaus told ESPN’s Adam Schefter, and plans to report to the team’s Santa Clara facility Friday afternoon. That puts San Francisco on the clock: the club can reinstate him, release him or chase a trade before the Nov. 10 deadline.
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Nick Bosa, back at practice this week after a calf injury, got the same question and offered a slightly friendlier answer.
“Oh man. I don’t know. Not my place, really,” Bosa said. “I’ll dap him up. No hard feelings between me and him.”
Christian McCaffrey was more clinical, and made clear the roster math is not his department.
“I don’t make any of those decisions, so it’s not on my radar,” McCaffrey said. “I just focus on my job. I haven’t thought about it.”
The players most affected by Aiyuk’s arrival are leaving the call to the front office. Warner, the defensive signal-caller and the longest-tenured of the trio, never came close to taking a side.
49ers coach Kyle Shanahan has already moved on from a reunion
Head coach Kyle Shanahan was asked about his expectation for Aiyuk and did not dress it up.
“None. I have no expectation. I’ve kind of moved on with that mentally,” Shanahan said, per ESPN’s Nick Wagoner.
He said much the same in September, when he turned down the idea of adding Aiyuk despite a pileup of receiver injuries, and NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo reported that stance has not shifted. General manager John Lynch said in January it was “safe to assume” Aiyuk had played his last snap in San Francisco.
Exploring Brandon Aiyuk’s two year hiatus
Aiyuk, 28, has not played since tearing the ACL, MCL and meniscus in his right knee in October 2024. The Niners placed him on the reserve/left squad list last December after he stopped showing up, and voided roughly $27 million in guaranteed money after he skipped required rehab sessions and check-ins. He signed a four-year, $120 million extension in August 2024, a year after a second-team All-Pro season of 75 catches, 1,342 yards and seven touchdowns. In 69 games with the team he has 294 catches for 4,305 yards.
ESPN’s Wagoner reported that a release is the likelier outcome than a trade, and Washington, the team Aiyuk openly angled toward over the summer, has since signed Stefon Diggs.
On the field, the 6-1 Niners host the Raiders on Sunday at Levi’s Stadium (4:25 p.m. ET, FOX), their first game since a 29-20 loss at Atlanta and their last before Tuesday’s 4 p.m. ET trade deadline.
Edited by Rishabh Vanwani
