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Brandon Aiyuk Watches Practice While Wearing 49ers Gear

Grant Cohn

Feb 7, 2024; Las Vegas, NV, USA; San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk (11) during a press conference before Super Bowl LVIII at Hilton Lake Las Vegas Resort and Spa. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports
Feb 7, 2024; Las Vegas, NV, USA; San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk (11) during a press conference before Super Bowl LVIII at Hilton Lake Las Vegas Resort and Spa. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports / Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports
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Finally, it seems Brandon Aiyuk is on the verge of agreeing to a contract extension with the 49ers.

He watched practice from the sideline on Thursday for the first time in more than a week, and he wore 49ers gear for the first time since the end of last season. He was wearing a red cutoff shirt with a 49ers logo on the chest, and he stood between the two practice fields, close to the end zone, more than 60 yards away from Kyle Shanahan and John Lynch.

One by one, people walked over to Aiyuk to talk to him. First, it was Deebo Samuel. Then it was Danny Gray. Then it was John Lynch who shook Aiyuk's hand and patted him on the back. Then it was George Kittle. They all seemed happy to see Aiyuk and he seemed excited to be out there. He kept fidgeting and stretching like a sprinter who was about to run the 100-meter dash.

It's worth noting that Shanahan did not walk over to Aiyuk and acknowledge him. Shanahan seemed focused on the players who were practicing. When practice ended, Shanahan asked all the players to huddle up so he could give a speech. Aiyuk didn't join them. He simply walked off the field.

On the surface, it seems like Aiyuk's relationships with Samuel, Kittle and Lynch are solid while his relationship with Shanahan could be strained.

It has been reported that the 49ers have upped their offer to Aiyuk and that the two sides are getting closer to agreeing to a deal. When you realize that Aiyuk bought a house in the Bay Area this offseason, it seems like this outcome was inevitable.

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Grant Cohn
GRANT COHN

Grant Cohn has covered the San Francisco 49ers daily since 2011. He spent the first nine years of his career with the Santa Rosa Press Democrat where he wrote the Inside the 49ers blog and covered famous coaches and athletes such as Jim Harbaugh, Colin Kaepernick and Patrick Willis. In 2012, Inside the 49ers won Sports Blog of the Year from the Peninsula Press Club. In 2020, Cohn joined FanNation and began writing All49ers. In addition, he created a YouTube channel which has become the go-to place on YouTube to consume 49ers content. Cohn's channel typically generates roughly 3.5 million viewers per month, while the 49ers' official YouTube channel generates roughly 1.5 million viewers per month. Cohn live streams almost every day and posts videos hourly during the football season. Cohn is committed to asking the questions that 49ers fans want answered, and providing the most honest and interactive coverage in the country. His loyalty is to the reader and the viewer, not the team or any player or coach. Cohn is a new-age multimedia journalist with an old-school mentality, because his father is Lowell Cohn, the legendary sports columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle from 1979 to 1993. The two have a live podcast every Tuesday. Grant Cohn grew up in Oakland and studied English Literature at UCLA from 2006 to 2010. He currently lives in Oakland with his wife.

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