San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan couldn't care less about the fantasy football players making a big deal of Brandon Aiyuk's usage rate in Week 1.
Aiyuk is one of the most promising young wide receivers in the NFL today. In his rookie season in 2020, he accumulated 60 receptions for 748 yards and five touchdowns. With that said, there were high expectations that he would take an even bigger step in his second season–with a year of experience under his belt and being more comfortable with the speed of the pro game.
That is also the reason why several fantasy football players have the 49ers youngster on their team.
Unfortunately for them, Aiyuk saw a limited role in Week 1 against the Detroit Lions, not even being targeted for a pass in their 41-33 win. Of course, it sparked a lot of concerns and questions whether Shanahan and the 49ers are putting the 23-year-old in the doghouse.
Seemingly tired of all the talks and issue surrounding the player, Shanahan addressed the issue on Friday and pointed a hamstring injury that Aiyuk is dealing with. He then mentioned that it was only made a big deal because of fantasy football.
Article Continues Below“No, it’s not a doghouse,” the 49ers coach said of Aiyuk on KNBR, via David Lombardi of The Athletic. “It’s a pretty simple thing. Trent Sherfield has played at a very high level every single day of training camp. Aiyuk got off to a little bit of a slow start and Trent was playing very well. When Aiyuk was starting to catch him, and to me was about to go by him, which was going to be the third preseason game — where he would’ve gotten that spot completely back — he tweaked his hamstring.
“Then he had about 10 days off and his first practice was Wednesday before the Detroit game, so we planned on rotating him. … You get a big reaction to that, but that’s how it’s going. I don’t expect that to stay long. These things are a bigger deal because of the fantasy football world. It usually means you messed up a lot of people’s fantasy picks.”
Kyle Shanahan's remarks will at lease ease the concerns on Brandon Aiyuk's status. However, he wasn't done throwing shade at fantasy football players who are still complaining.
“You don’t need a fantasy team when you’re in charge of a real team,” Shanahan said while laughing.
Hopefully, though, Aiyuk returns to 100 percent health sooner rather than later just so Shanahan will not have to address fantasy football complaints again–no matter how fun it is.