Brandon Aiyuk is one of the NFL’s highest-paid wide receivers.
But right now he isn’t playing or acting like one.
Aiyuk has been well off the pace to start the seasonAP
After a lengthy trade saga that rumbled on for most of the offseason, Aiyuk eventually signed a four-year, $120million contract extension — $76m of which is guaranteed — to stay with the San Francisco 49ers.
The Niners have been plagued by injuries to start the season, most notably to Christian McCaffrey, Deebo Samuel, and George Kittle, and would have expected $120m man Aiyuk to step up in their absence.
That hasn’t happened so far though, with the 26-year-old wideout registering just 11 receptions for 119 receiving yards through three games as the 49ers have slipped to 1-2.
Aiyuk has also dropped a number of relatively straightforward catches, which, had he have not missed most of practice throughout the summer, he may have hauled in.
Aiyuk’s preparation for the New England Patriots game on Sunday hardly got off to the best start either when he had an awkward confrontation with head coach Kyle Shanahan at practice on Friday.
In footage shared to social media, Shanahan could been seen confronting Aiyuk over the color of his shorts.
Aiyuk was wearing red shorts while the rest of his teammates’ shorts were black.
After a couple minutes of intense chat, Shanahan walked away from Aiyuk, who threw a tantrum before taking off his red shorts, kicking them aside and changing into black shorts on the field.
Following practice, a reporter asked Shanhan if Aiyuk wore the wrong shorts.
Shanahan answered, “Yeah, he did. Good question.”
Shanahan appeared irked at Aiyuk’s red shortsX@grantcohn
After a length discussion, Aiyuk took the red shorts off and kicked them away in frustrationX@grantcohn
A reporter followed up by asking if it was a punishable offense.
“No,” Shanahan said with a smirk. “I wish I could wear different shorts.”
Shanahan may have laughed off the incident but Aiyuk’s behaviour, and performances, are not befitting of someone the 49ers organization has shown serious faith in.
“Would Fred Warner, Deebo Samuel, George Kittle, Brock Purdy or Christian McCaffrey, who are team captains come to practice wearing the wrong shorts? No,” Chase Senior, host of the 49ers Report posted on X.
“And Aiyuk showed why he isn’t a team captain. Aiyuk just got $76 million in guaranteed money. The territory that comes with that is being held to a high standard.
“Aiyuk didn’t practice all summer, has been out of shape and bad to start the season. And now he’s not following simple team rules?
“Football is a team game. It was immature and childish from Aiyuk. Stop excusing bad behavior.”
Aiyuk held out for a big contract extension all summerReuters
Aiyuk set himself apart from the team for most of the offseason when he held out of training camp and dug in for a new contract.
After his dismal performances to start the season, he should be bending over backwards to make it up to the team — not throwing a strop because he couldn’t adhere to the same uniform policy as everyone else.
Aiyuk has insisted his play is nothing to do with being rusty, rather, the way opposing defenses are scheming against his patterns with quarterback Brock Purdy.
“A little bit different,” Aiyuk told reporters earlier this week. “They just know what we want to do, what we like to do, me and Purdy, especially.”
Aiyuk now needs to start delivering on the field and show why the 49ers were right to pay him $30million per season.
It starts with the Patriots in Week 4.
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