49ers owner Jed York leaves door open for unlikely Brandon Aiyuk return

PHOENIX — The 49ers’ public stance is they are in no rush to officially part ways with wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk.Principal owner Jed York took it a couple steps further.“I would like to see him play for us,” York said Monday at the NFL Annual League Meeting.“We paid him for a reason. I think he’s a really good football player.”Aiyuk caught 75 passes for a career-best 1,342 yards and seven touchdowns in 2023.The 49ers signed Aiyuk to a four-year, $120 million contract extension before the 2024 season. He appeared in just seven games before sustaining a season-ending knee injury.York quipped that the 49ers paid him more millions of dollars than actual snaps that he played since signing the big-money deal.The union became fractured last season, as Aiyuk stopped reporting to the team’s facility during the season.The 49ers voided a $27-million guarantee due to his failure to live up to terms of his contract while he was rehabbing from ACL surgery during the early portion of training camp.In mid-December, the 49ers placed Aiyuk on the reserve/left squad list.General manager John Lynch and coach Kyle Shanahan have, in...