Since John Lynch and Kyle Shanahan arrived in Santa Clara, the 49ers have eliminated information being leaked outside of the building.
That is until recently.
Earlier in the month, the San Francisco Chronicle's Mike Silver reported that the team had offered Brandon Aiyuk an extension with a yearly salary of approximately $26 million. The second-team All-Pro was recently on "The Pivot Podcast" and discussed his emotions over the details going public.
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“It's a little bit frustrating, especially when we're getting down to details like that,” Aiyuk said. “Like we're putting down exact numbers in negotiations where that's talks between the team and my team. We're trying to work through things, work through a lot of things.
“So for actual numbers and actual stuff like that to come out, I think that it's a little bit, I felt it was a little bit disrespectful, a little bit unfair to me, but that's part of it. That's part of it.”
Aiyuk was frustrated enough to want to tell his side of the story, but it’s likely that both Lynch and Shanahan were equally frustrated to see the information reach the public. The organization has prided itself on all negations successfully cutting off the leaks it was known for prior to them taking over the reins in 2017.
“It is what it is,” Aiyuk said. “It's a dirty game. It's a dirty game, so I just feel like for me, social media is a way for me and my team to leverage myself and to leverage what I'm trying to get because that's the way to get the message out there. That's the way to get the facts out there. And the facts are the facts. So if I'm putting facts out there.”
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The two sides had been at an impasse since the end of the season, which influenced Aiyuk to skip mandatory minicamp, even though the former first-round pick accrued fines of over $100,000.
Last week, Aiyuk appeared ready to move forward, taking the initiative to schedule a meeting with Lynch and Shanahan at team headquarters. The wideout reported on social media that the meeting went well and the two sides were scheduled to meet again soon.
On Friday Aiyuk recorded himself pulling into the parking lot at the team facility, but whether or not the two sides are getting any closer to reaching an agreement has not been shared.
“Throughout this process, there were times where we were super close,” Aiyuk said. “I felt like I was telling people, telling them, hey, let me get my suit ready. I'm ready. I'm gonna get it back to the bay. I got to get right to sign this contract.
"Then there's days and times, like in the past month or so, where you could say, yeah, we're pretty far apart.”
A second meeting is a positive sign for both parties but specific salary details remaining private will be a necessity for both Aiyuk and the team to stay on workable terms.
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