SANTA CLARA – General manager John Lynch is not dismissing a Brandon Aiyuk comeback to the 49ers this wildly unpredictable season, as unrealistic as Aiyuk’s return may be amid his knee recovery and contract chaos.

Coach Kyle Shanahan has spent most of his tenure with the San Francisco 49ers hoping that his special teams unit wouldn’t make the catastrophic mistakes that would contribute to losses. A year after that group was one of the worst in the NFL,