Kyle Shanahan and Brandon Aiyuk don’t seem to have the strongest relationship.
Shanahan is a control freak and Aiyuk seems to have issues with authority, so they’re an awkward pair. And it seems like their relationship never has recovered since Shanahan put Aiyuk in his proverbial doghouse in 2021.
All the playmakers on the 49ers except Aiyuk seem appreciative of Shanahan. Aiyuk is the only one who acts as though Shanahan has held him back and made him look bad.
And so this offseason, Aiyuk made Shanahan look bad. Held in so he would avoid fines but still refused to practice. Showed up to the practice field every once in a while just to hijack the spotlight and show everyone that he was above the rules and privileged.
Cut to this past Friday. Aiyuk was coming off a disappointing performance in Los Angeles during which he was open for a potential long pass in the fourth quarter but Brock Purdy didn’t throw him the ball. So Aiyuk showed up to Friday’s practice wearing the wrong shorts — a dress code violation. Aiyuk knows the rules. He broke them anyway.
Maybe Shanahan hasn’t enforced this rule in the past. But on Friday, he went out of his way to yell at Aiyuk for two minutes in front of the team and the media. Shanahan seemed to want people to see him put Aiyuk in his place.
And when I asked Shanahan after practice if Aiyuk had worn the wrong shorts, Shanahan smiled and said, “Good question.”
Something tells me the cold war between these two has just begun.
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