Is Brandon Aiyuk in Kyle Shanahan's Doghouse?
Being in the doghouse of Kyle Shanahan is a nightmare.
It is a place that no player on the San Francisco 49ers will want to be. The last notable players who were in it are Dante Pettis, Matt Breida, and Ahkello Witherspoon. Only one of them (Witherspoon) was ever able to emerge from it.
Now there is a chance that Brandon Aiyuk has fallen into it. Aiyuk was essentially nowhere to be found against the Lions. He had one punt return and saw 26 snaps on offense, which accounts for less than half of the offensive playing time. Aiyuk didn't even see a target. For a guy who was sweet in 2020, this was the perfect game to let Aiyuk showcase his ability. Of course, you could say it was against the Lions and Deebo Samuel was going off, so there wasn't a necessity to involve. Still, this was a shocking development.
So is Aiyuk in Shanahan's doghouse?
Not yet.
I think he is on the doorstep of it. Although, if you ask Shanahan himself, he will play it down like nothing is happening behind closed doors.
"I just think he's got a better person behind him this year in training camp and with Aiyuk missing some time and how well [WR] Trent Sherfield played and especially with Aiyuk missing some time heading into that game, it wasn't a very tough decision. We were going to rotate them throughout the game. I think Trent ended up having 29 plays and I think Aiyuk had 25. So, that was about how we expected it to go. We wanted to split time like that. I thought Aiyuk would get a few more punt returns and I thought he’d get a few more targets, but when guys are rotating that much, 50/50, I don't really ask much who’s in, I'm good with either one of them getting the ball, whoever is in there at the time. It doesn't matter to me."'
Shanahan keys in on Aiyuk's hamstring injury, but he is exaggerating on that.
Aiyuk was reported as a full participant in all three practices in the lead up to Week 1. The hamstring was clearly not a glaring issue. And if the injury was that much of a concern, why roll him out for as many plays as he did and expose him on punt return? Why not hold him out since Sherfield is apparently ahead of him? I just don't buy his logic, especially with Matt Maiocco of NBC Sports Bay Area dropping how Aiyuk is "still learning how to be a pro" tweet.
There was a follow up question posed to Shanahan regarding how Aiyuk handled the limitation of his playing time and his answer was rather interesting.
"I think he had an idea of that going into the game. That's how practice has been the last couple of weeks, so I don't think it was a surprise to him. But that's something I’m sure I'll talk to him about sooner than later.”
He mentions the "missed time" prior, yet pivots and says it his how they have been practicing. I understand that Sherfield has been sweet, and seeing him in person made me a believer. But better than Aiyuk? That is delusion. There is something deeper here. Maybe it is something with Aiyuk's work ethic? Some inconsistencies in his game that he is failing to improve on? Not studying the playbook enough?
Whatever the case may be, I interpret this as Shanahan sending a message as Maiocco alluded to with "message sent" in his tweet. This is not anything new with Shanahan. It's by far his most toxic trait as a head coach. He is trying to use tough love like how he does with the young players and hopes that they can fight through it. Witherspoon admitted this at the end of last season and it looks like it could be happening to Aiyuk now. It would not surprise me if Aiyuk drops a pass or does something incorrectly against the Eagles that would dig him a deeper hole. If that happens, then that would just confirm my suspicions.
For Aiyuk's sake, he needs to fix whatever it is that has Shanahan treating him like their third-best wide receiver.
