After Week 2, the San Francisco 49ers‘ wideout room has been hit by injuries dating back to training camp. Ricky Pearsall suffered a season-ending injury, while Christian Kirk should return at some point soon.
Nonetheless, those injuries were before the regular season, and since then, De’Zhaun Stribling and Demarcus Robinson have gone down with injuries.
As a result, with injuries hitting the wideout group, 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan was asked whether the team would consider mending fences with Brandon Aiyuk to bring him back. However, Shanahan quickly closed that possibility with a simple “No.”
Nonetheless, Rich Eisen believes that the Niners should make amends with Aiyuk and bring him back to help replace the production lost from these players.
“It would be nice if the Niners could have Aiyuk as an option rather than the head coach going, ‘We have some people around here who have done some things for us,'” Eisen said on the Sept. 21 edition of “The Rich Eisen Show.” “Like, that’s a better option than Brandon Aiyuk?
“We got some people who can fog up a mirror because they’ve done some things for us around here. We know them. They know us. We know them. We’ll get them off the practice squad or on a practice squad. That’s better than Brandon Aiyuk?”
Brandon Aiyuk Not Absolve for His Antics In Rift With 49ers
Nonetheless, Eisen doesn’t absolve Aiyuk of all the antics he’s done to get himself on the reserved/left squad list. The wideout has done nothing to make amends with the 49ers or, at the very least, show he wants to play football, since he isn’t seeking reinstatement and isn’t showing up at the team’s facilities.
“Something’s going to happen where your bosses piss you off,” Eisen noted. “Something’s going to happen at work where you feel disrespected. Whether it’s money, time, effort, an assignment, or whatever, it’s going to happen. What you cannot do is tell the bosses, “F you,” and stick it.
“Now, if you’ve got gajillions in the bank, I guess you can. Maybe it’ll make you feel good because if Brandon Aiyuk didn’t do any of that, he would either be on another team right now or the Niners would be calling him on speed dial.”
Deebo Samuel on Playing in Front of Niners Fans Again
Meanwhile, Deebo Samuel will be one of the players that the Niners count on to produce with several wideouts out. After the 35-13 win over the Miami Dolphins, Samuel spoke to NBC Sports Bay Area California about what it felt like to play at Levi’s Stadium again.
“It felt great [playing at Levi’s Stadium again],” Samuel said. “We did the announcement before the game, came out and felt like the ground was shaking, man. I appreciate these fans for sure.”
Moreover, Samuel returned to his old pre-game routine, as he was out on the field playing catch with 49ers fans.
“I treat every game the same; just go out there and get ready to play,” Samuel told reporters postgame. “I miss [playing catch with the fans] a lot. That’s kind of something I always did because I go out with the returners, and we’d be out there for a good bit of time with nothing to do. So I just play catch with the fans.”
49ers Handed Blunt Brandon Aiyuk Message Amid Wide Receiver Injuries