Tensions flared during the San Francisco 49ers' training camp on Tuesday. According to ESPN's Nick Wagoner, a full-on brawl broke out at Niners camp, centered around Brandon Aiyuk and Fred Warner, who apparently squared up to one another as if they were in the boxing ring ready to exchange some huge blows. Per Wagoner, a hard hit from Warner onto Niners WR Marcus Johnson was the spark that sent the camp into a frenzy.
#49ers A wild day with a couple of fights as things escalated between WR Brandon Aiyuk and LB Fred Warner. At one point, Aiyuk and Warner squared up like an actual boxing match which led to full fledged brawl. A Warner hit on WR Marcus Johnson seemed to spur that one.
— Nick Wagoner (@nwagoner) August 2, 2022
It wasn't just the players who were fired up at practice on Tuesday, however. After the team-wide brawl broke out, Kyle Shanahan was reportedly in a fit of rage and halted practice in order to chew into his squad. After some “choice words,” practice resumed and players quickly regained their focus.
It's not uncommon for skirmishes to escalate at training camp, but for two players to square up like Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao is a pretty stunning development. Warner and Aiyuk were clearly heated, and in a moment of rage appeared ready to throw down against one another, right in the middle of practice. It's also less common for a training camp kerfuffle to end up involving two key players such as Warner and Aiyuk, but still, it doesn't seem as if much more came from the incident.
Shanahan was able to get everyone calmed down before things spiraled truly out of control and the Niners finished practice without any additional hitches.
It's worth noting that Warner singled out Aiyuk in comments last week, indicating that he planned to target the 49ers wide receiver specifically at camp in order to help raise his game.
Warner spoke last week about purposefully targeting Aiyuk as a means to try to help raise his game. Aiyuk had (semi) jokingly called Warner annoying. Add pads and the warmest practice of camp so far and this is the result.
— Nick Wagoner (@nwagoner) August 2, 2022
Warner didn't back down from his challenge to Aiyuk, though it doesn't seem the young wide receiver appreciated the exchange. Hopefully, this is just two teammates pushing each other to be better and nothing more.
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