SANTA CLARA — The tone. The body language. The seriousness.

That all changed Wednesday when 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan and general manager John Lynch discussed wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk.

They were done playing games. And they made that point abundantly clear as they took their places behind the lectern at Levi’s Stadium.

“At some point you have to play,” Lynch said of Aiyuk.

A day later, Aiyuk decided it was time to play.

Aiyuk finally agreed on Thursday to the four-year, $120 million contract offer that had been on the table since Aug. 12, according to a source told NBC Sports Bay Area.

The contract sat there gathering dust for 17 days.

Some within the organization wondered if Aiyuk simply couldn’t make a decision. The parties were apparently close to a new contract early in the offseason.

When those talks stalled, Aiyuk requested a trade. He was presented with the very real scenarios of a trade to another team. All he had to do was accept the terms of another team’s offer and his request would be granted.

Perhaps Aiyuk’s plan was to stay with the 49ers but delay signing the contract until after he began scheduling for the Week 1 game against the New York Jets.

Or perhaps the blunt words from Shanahan and Lynch – and the implied threat of a fine for Aiyuk – were enough to push the game over the edge.

None of that matters anymore.

Aiyuk didn’t participate in the 49ers’ offseason program or training camp, so it makes sense that he’s not in the best position to carry the momentum from his breakout season of 2023, when he caught 75 passes for 1,342 yards and seven touchdowns.

Quarterback Brock Purdy said last week that he thinks he and Aiyuk can pick up where they left off last season.

Only time will tell.

The parties can now celebrate, but at the same time wonder why this could not have happened weeks – or even months – ago.

The 49ers have been working hard this week to get the contract done.

Lynch could also have had foresight in that process about how the parties would get things back in order if the union were to continue.

“I’ve seen things look bad before, and they can change quickly,” Lynch said.

Not much has changed in the last 17 days… except that something has changed with a contractual agreement that seemed to be in serious jeopardy just 24 hours earlier.

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