Friday’s practice for the San Francisco 49ers offered an interesting wrinkle in the ongoing Brandon Aiyuk contract saga.
Not only did Aiyuk attend practice again – the third time he’d done so in as many days – but Friday’s attendance came with a workout on one of the team’s side fields at the SAP Performance Center.
Multiple reporters on site for practice reported after the session that Aiyuk was running sprints in addition to observing practice.
Of all the reporting that’s gone on around Aiyuk’s contract talks, this may be the clearest indication yet that something is close between Aiyuk and the 49ers. Surely Aiyuk has been working out throughout the offseason. Doing so at the team facility in front of reporters during practice is much different than doing so in private.
This also comes on the heels of remarks by 49ers general manager John Lynch that appeared to indicate some optimism about Aiyuk staying in San Francisco long-term.
Things will remain in question until a deal is signed and Aiyuk is in pads practicing. Perhaps he’s busy Friday and that was his only opportunity to get a workout in, and there’s not any kind of movement on a contract.
Alas, we’re left to try and make sense of puzzle pieces that may or may not fit together. From our view, a player negotiating a contract with a team running sprints at the team facility during the team’s practice is an indication that the contract is close. And we may soon see Aiyuk actually participating with the 49ers instead of just observing.
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