Kyle Shanahan discusses 49ers WR Brandon Aiyuk

SANTA CLARA, Calif. — San Francisco 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan called the decision to put missing receiver Brandon Aiyuk on a season-ending reserve list an easy one, and it won’t change what the team plans to do the rest of the season.

The 49ers officially placed their former No. 1 receiver on the reserve/left squad list Saturday with Aiyuk no longer showing up as he rehabilitates a knee injury that has sidelined him since last October.

“We haven’t seen him in forever,” Shanahan said after San Francisco’s 37-24 win over Tennessee on Sunday. “That’s the decision they make. It’s been pretty simple for me. I haven’t seen him in a month. It hasn’t been an issue with our team at all. We’ve been plugging away. No big deal. It’s something we’ve been used to for a while.”

The issues with Aiyuk go back to the summer previously voided $27 million guaranteed in his contract for next season for failing to participate in meetings and other team activities.

Shanahan had expressed hope earlier this year that Aiyuk could return, but the move made by the team this weekend makes him ineligible to play the rest of the season and makes it unlikely he will ever play again for San Francisco.

Aiyuk has three years remaining on the four-year, $120 million extension he signed last year. But he now has no guaranteed money remaining, making it simpler for the team to cut ties in the offseason.

“I wouldn’t say that’s for sure been decided,” Shanahan said. “I literally haven’t had to think about BA or had a reason to think about him in a long time. He is under contract next year. BA’s a guy we’ve had a relationship for a while. We’ve always liked BA. Everyone knows how good of a player he is. It’s extremely unfortunate that it’s gone to this point. But when this year’s over, we’ll see where we’re at.”

Aiyuk signed the lucrative extension last summer following a lengthy contract hold-in that kept him out of training camp. He was coming off a 2023 season when he had 75 catches for 1,342 yards and seven touchdowns and was a second-team All-Pro.

Aiyuk had only 25 catches for 374 yards in seven games last season before getting injured. He has been paid about $48 million the past two seasons for that production.

The 27-year-old has 294 catches for 4,305 yards and 25 TDs since being drafted in the first round in 2020.

The Niners have overcome his absence to improve to 10-4 this season. The depth at receiver was shown Sunday with Jauan Jennings catching two touchdown passes and Ricky Pearsall catching six passes for 96 yards.

“We’ve been playing with our receiver group all year,” Shanahan said. “I really have been hoping he would come back all year, but not one point was I really planning on it. That would have been a great bonus. That would have been awesome. I would love to have BA out there, would love to have that type of player.

“But that was something I realized early on wasn’t going to come for a while, and there was nothing that made me sit there and think it was happening soon.”