San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan appeared on Bay Area radio station KNBR for his weekly interview. Naturally, the first question was about the status of wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk, who is "holding in" during training camp while seeking a contract extension or a trade.
Shanahan quipped, "So much has changed. No, I'm just joking. No new updates. I'm sorry to keep being boring with that. I wish I was saying something different but nothing's changed yet."
Week 1 quickly approaches. The 49ers will open the regular season at home against the New York Jets on Monday, September 9. The team would benefit significantly from having Aiyuk on the field, but Shanahan expressed confidence in his other pass catchers if Aiyuk does not play.
"That's what we got everyone competing for right now," Shanahan said. "We have Jauan [Jennings], who's done a lot of good stuff for us here over the years. When guys are healthy, he's always majored as our slot receiver. But we've used him outside, too. He's always been capable of being outside, and he's probably the first we would look to because he has been our number three receiver since we've been here, and at times, in some big moments, we've used him like a number one guy."
Shanahan mentioned that Jennings has been dealing with hip and ankle soreness, which kept him out of this past weekend's preseason game against the New Orleans Saints. However, the injury is not considered severe.
"Chris Conley's had a hell of a camp," Shanahan continued. "He came on strong for us last year, did a hell of a job for last year, and made a number of plays going into the playoffs, in the playoffs, and in the Super Bowl. He's been on a lot of teams, too, where he's done it for a while.
"And then we've got these rookies who are all pushing, that I know will be there eventually, but they're a little behind the eight ball with their injuries. But they're guys we believe in, guys who are made of the right stuff.
"And then we've got a lot of depth here with just guys we brought in from other teams, who have made [it onto the rosters with] other teams before. We have guys that have been on the back part of a roster that are trying to do that again with Danny [Gray], and Ronnie Bell, and things like that."
Shanahan acknowledged that he is eager to see how the roster battle plays out.
"We usually get five up for game day, and if B.A. is not there, we will plan on using all of them," he concluded.
