The 49ers’ fall from grace after a year from making the Super Bowl is something that needs to be studied. How did a team that went to the Super Bowl last season end up finishing dead last in their division in the 2024 season? The fact that they weren’t even close to competitive and only managed six wins and a measly two-game winning streak is quite worrying. Yes, you could say the pain of losing a second shot at a Super Bowl in four years was still there (twice to the Chiefs), but there were lots of problems elsewhere that actually crippled the 49ers season before it even began.

See All-Pro LB Fred Warner, who played all 17 games but 12 of them through a fractured ankle, pointed out the probable reason why the 49ers couldn’t get going. Sure, player injuries were one reason on the list, but on his podcast, The Warner House, Fred singled out the issue of players missing the training camp. And while doing so, he might have specifically called out a particular player!

It was Brandon Aiyuk!

“To be honest, it wasn’t even the injuries in the season that was what killed us. Like I think honestly, of course, you can’t win a bunch of games if you don’t have Christian McCaffrey on the field. You don’t have Brandon Aiyuk on the field. You don’t have Trent Williams on the field. Like guys are missing time. […] You can’t just be like, ‘Oh, next man up mentality’. Like, yeah, of course, you want that to be the case but like at the end of the day, it’s going to make everybody else’s job harder because now you’re it’s not just one guy having to elevate, it’s everybody else having to elevate.”

“… just for example, were just talking about Brandon Aiyuk and the battles that he and me had in camp. He [Brandon Aiyuk] was not there all camp. Why? Because of a contract dispute, people were like, ‘Oh well, you know he’ll be back ready to go.’ I’m like, ‘you don’t understand there is a level of competition that has to occur, and timing not only for me and Brock Purdy I am talking about as a team’.”

Let us not forget that Warner and Aiyuk have been rubbing each other the wrong way for a while. For instance, in 2022, they were ready to trade punches during a practice session. While they wrestled on the ground, their teammates tried to separate them. This resulted in Kyle Shanahan briefly stopping practice and issuing a stern warning.

But coming back to the current issue at hand, it looks like things actually got worse between the 49ers and Aiyuk. Their star receiver reportedly had multiple agreements in place for trade. Of course, none of them materialized, but it would have surely taken a toll on the team’s unity. Well, after a while, the 49ers eventually caved in and gave Aiyuk a four-year, $120M extension. He won the tug of war, but when it came to delivering the results, he struggled throughout his first seven games, until a torn ACL and MCL took him out against the Chiefs.

Now, there isn’t even a timeline for Aiyuk’s return. Ideally, he could be back mid-season because of the severity of his injury. And there’s also no guarantee that he still will be explosive.

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However, Aiyuk’s return isn’t the only thing the Niners should be concerned about. The team and Kyle Shanahan also have a tough decision to make regarding impending free agent safety Talanoa Hufanga.

The 49ers keep on playing with the idea of re-signing Talanoa Hufanga…

Scooped up by the 49ers in the fifth round of the 2021 NFL draft, Hufanga has been an incredible player whenever healthy. Yes, his rookie season was a bit off, with him just mustering 32 combined tackles. However, his second season in the Bay Area was his breakout year.

Playing all 17 games, Hufanga racked up 97 combined tackles with two sacks and four interceptions. He went on to make the Pro Bowl and First-team All-Pro that season. But in 2023, an ACL stopped Hufanga from continuing his dominant showing as a safety. That ACL limited him to just 10 games, where Hufanga started all and had 52 combined tackles and three interceptions.

But those troubles with injuries kept on hindering Hufanga’s time on the gridiron. So, considering his dominant productions, whenever healthy, Bleacher Report’s Moe Moton believes the 49ers will probably re-sign him before next season. He is of the opinion that the team could give him another year to play as one of their top defenders.

But still, there isn’t any concrete approach from the Niners to keep Hufanga in the Bay Area. Maybe they are still accessing their options after a season where injuries dominated their headlines instead of wins. What do you think?