How Brandon Aiyuk Will Overshadow 49ers Training Camp

The 49ers can say they have leverage over Aiyuk, but as long as his absence is bigger than anyone's presence in camp, they're in a bad position.

Grant Cohn | Jul 16, 2024

Jul 27, 2023; Santa Clara, CA, USA; San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk (11) runs with the ball after a catch during training camp at the SAP Performance Facility. Mandatory Credit: Robert Edwards-USA TODAY Sports / Robert Edwards-USA TODAY Sports

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San Francisco 49ers

The past few years, 49ers training camp was premium entertainment.

The daily scrutiny of Trey Lance may have seemed tedious and tiring, but at least people were focused on what was happening on the field. This year, all the drama will be off the field.

Until Brandon Aiyuk signs an extension or agrees to practice, he will overshadow all of 49ers training camp. Aiyuk Watch will dominate the coverage and the questions for every player. Is Aiyuk in the facility? Has anyone talked to Aiyuk? What's Aiyuk's mood? How do his teammates feel about him holding out? Do they think Aiyuk is asking for too much money? Do they think the front office is being stingy? Do they think they can win without Aiyuk? Do they think Aiyuk will be back eventually?

Talk about a giant distraction.

Football coaches want the focus of their football team to be on the field at all times -- that's why they traded Lance last year. They felt he was a distraction. Not because he called attention to himself -- he didn't. People simply talked about him more than anyone else on the team. And the 49ers didn't want a famous backup. So they traded him for a fourth-round pick.

Now Aiyuk wants to be traded, and the 49ers refuse to deal him and have created the exact type of distraction they were trying to avoid with Lance. How strange.

The 49ers can say they have leverage over Aiyuk, but as long as his absence is bigger than anyone's presence in camp, they're in a bad position.

Published Jul 16, 2024

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.