When news broke that Brandon Aiyuk and the San Francisco 49ers were approaching a breakup in 2026 after the team removed over $26 million in bonus money from his contract, it led fans to perform unofficial autopsies on the former first-round pick's tenure with the team.

How did Aiyuk go from a player they refused to trade, a player worthy of a $120 million contract, to someone who had their option nixed on the way to what might just be an outright release?

Well, Kyle Shanahan was asked about Aiyuk during his weekly media session and let it be known that, regardless of the outside noise, the 49ers would be willing to play the Arizona State wide receiver again in 2025 if he is healthy enough to take the field.

“Yeah, it was week to week, hoping he can clear all the markers so he can come back and start his practice normal,” Shanahan told reporters.

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Asked if Aiyuk had missed meetings or in some way upset the team to the point to the point where his bonus was removed for the 2026 season, Shanahan said yes, though he did note that injured players have different schedules, so the situation is a tad more complicated than it may seem from the outside.

“Yes, I had him back in July, though, so that was other things. But as far as like missing meetings, things like that, any injured player, when people are on IR or doing rehab, like their schedule is totally different than the rest of the team,” Shanahan explained. “So sometimes they're involved in meetings, sometimes they're not at all. I'm not gonna go through each thing with them, but anytime a guy's on IR and stuff, they're not in the daily routine of meetings.”

Could Aiyuk and the 49ers somehow come back together and work toward the shared cause of a Super Bowl win? Considering how, well, everything has shaken out so far, that feels rather unlikely. But then again, if Shanahan isn't willing to rule it out, then who knows? Maybe the 49ers will remain deep in the playoff conversation into November, December, and even January, and Aiyuk will return to contribute to that goal.