49ers receiver Brandon Aiyuk has held off, an increasingly common trade-off for players and teams with contract issues.

The player reports to training camp and avoids penalties. The team has the player in the building, which most teams prefer to another location. However, the team must be willing to accept the delay.

One might well ask whether the 49ers should have simply allowed Aiyuk to show up to work without having to do any work.

While teams typically accept a hold-in when the alternative would be a holdout, the Patriots have no qualms about expecting linebacker Matthew Judon to do his job.

“I mean, look, he understands he’s under contract and we expect him to be here at practice. And it’s time for him to play, go out there and play the game,” Patriots coach Jerod Mayo told reporters Sunday about Judon.

The 49ers could have played the same position with Aiyuk. They could play the same position whenever they want. Without a trade or a long-term contract, they will have to at some point.

That’s what happened two years ago with the Bears and linebacker Roquan Smith. He held out. No deal was made. And finally he went to work. (He was traded to the Ravens during the season.)

Of course, if the 49ers tell Aiyuk the hold-in is over, he could resort to the old-fashioned hold-in, in which a real, exaggerated or imagined injury keeps him from performing. If a deliberate hold-in irritates 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan, a more subtle approach based on an “injury” could make his head explode.

Regardless, it’s fair to question whether the 49ers got this wrong by allowing Aiyuk to show up to work without working. And it’s fair for the 49ers to question whether they’ll be able to work with a player going forward who handles his contract dissatisfaction with a hold-in rather than a hold-out.