As the Brandon Aiyuk saga continues to drag on in San Francisco, the 49ers are preparing for life with or without him. The Niners are now deep into training camp with their first preseason game on Saturday night.
49ers tight end George Kittle discussed the Aiyuk situation while appearing on the Audacy Sports Podcast “The TK Show” this week.
“For me, personally, I noticed it more early on in training camp just because the last time I was in the huddle was with Aiyuk, and then here in Week 3 and there’s injuries on the team, new guys are in the huddle, so you’re just used to whoever’s in the huddle with you at that point,” Kittle said. “Honestly, to me, it’s less weird now than it was at the start. Aiyuk’s a phenomenal football player and with all this stuff that’s happening on the outside, I have no idea.”
Kittle said that he doesn’t watch or listen to much sports talk as he remains focused on the field.
“It doesn’t really affect me at all. I’m just like well, hopefully, it pans out the best possible way for both Brandon and the 49ers, and whatever happens happens,” he continued. “Because I have zero control over it and there’s nothing I can do about it.”
The 49ers have had quite a few decisions to make in recent years and will continue to have them as Brock Purdy needs a new contract soon. But Kittle isn’t worried about that.
“All I know is that currently right now we have a really good roster and I’m just going to try to attack it every single day with the really good roster that I have,” he said. “If you think about the future and stuff like that, I remember being told in 2021 that if we don’t win it this year the window’s closed, and we’ve been in three NFC Championship Games since then. The window hasn’t closed.”
Kittle gave credit to John Lynch and the rest of the 49ers front office to keep the team competitive as players earned bigger paydays.
With all of the focus on Aiyuk, the tight end just wants what’s best for his teammate.
“Really for Brandon, I want what’s best for him. If he requests a trade, I hope that he gets to go somewhere that’s best for him, and I have no bad blood with Brandon,” Kittle said. “Each contract negotiation is so different and so unique.”
The 49ers tight end likes to stay in the dark regarding contract negotiations but did make an interesting comparison.
“I don’t know any details about Brandon’s either besides just trying to remind him that contract negotiations are like braces. They suck the entire time and when you get them off you have a nice pretty smile, and millions of dollars in your bank account,” he said. “It’s just whatever’s best for him.”
Kittle had nothing but praise for Aiyuk, who would leave a hole in the 49ers offense.
“It would be a significant loss,” he opined. “He’s a fantastic wide receiver who does everything you want. He runs every route tree. He makes huge plays. He gives 100% effort in the run game. He leads by example. He brings awesome energy every single day at work. He’s everything you want in a football player.
However, life and football move on. As the Aiyuk negotiations continue, so do the practice reps for those wide receivers behind him in the depth chart.
“So I love having him as a teammate but the one benefit to him not practicing and stuff is a lot of younger guys get all these reps and they’re getting important reps with the ones and with Brock that they wouldn’t be getting otherwise,” Kittle said.
“I’m not going to take probably any rookie over Brandon, I’m not going to do that, but the fact that these young guys now get these reps, it’s going to put them in a position to succeed if we can’t figure stuff out with Brandon,” he continued. “And they’ll be more ready for a season as opposed to just going with the twos and threes the whole time. It just kind of is what it is.”
Those younger wide receivers include first-round pick Ricky Pearsall and fourth-round selection Jacob Cowing.
Those guys should continue to see action as the preseason gets underway. The 49ers open up their preseason slate against the Titans on Saturday in Tennessee.