Two years ago, the 49ers were riding high in a season that saw them reach the Super Bowl while four of their skills position players eclipsed 1,000 yards of offense — running back Christian McCaffrey eclipsed 2,000. Today’s 49ers are in the thick of the hunt for the playoffs, and it’s a wonder they are, considering one of the abovementioned players is no longer on the team and another could soon follow. 
According to Dianna Russini and Michael Silver of The Athletic, the 49ers appear to be preparing to part ways with veteran wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk. The telltale sign informing this report was the team’s decision to void the guaranteed money on Aiyuk’s contract for 2026, based on some receiver’s recent behavior.
Just before the start of the 2024 NFL season, the 49ers put an end to a lengthy, contentious contract negotiation, signing Aiyuk to a four-year, $120MM extension. Aiyuk had staged a hold in for 38 days after refusing to play on his fifth-year option and demanding a new contract. He even requested a trade and was linked to several teams throughout the hold in. Hold ins like that were made popular in recent years as the 49ers have seen similar negotiations go sour before an eventually resolving late in the summer.
After putting their strife aside, a disappointing start to Aiyuk’s 2024 campaign went from bad to worse when he suffered a torn ACL seven weeks into the season. Aiyuk once again drew trade interest in the offseason, but it was Deebo Samuel who got shipped out to DC. When an Aiyuk-trade didn’t end up taking place by April, the focus shifted to a midseason return for the 27-year-old. As the start of the season and a placement on the reserve/physically unable to perform list drew nearer and nearer, Week 6 was disclosed as the target return date.
A little over a month ago, that target was pushed out to November, but his 21-day practice window remained unopened. Per Russini and Silver, there were things behind the scenes that contributed to the lack of clarity on a return plan, and some of those things contributed to a situation that now seems to be on the verge of divorce.
Reports out of the Bay Area claim that Aiyuk has been frequently absent in recent months, failing to attend meeting and declining to participate in other team activities. Additionally, the team has “grown increasingly frustrated with (Aiyuk’s) lack of communication.” The wideout is reportedly a ghost in the building, working out early in the morning and departing before teammates arrive. The report claims that number members of the team — both staff and players — have unsuccessfully reached out, attempting to reel Aiyuk back in.
This lack of communication and attendance led the 49ers to drastic measures. In response, San Francisco voided the 2026 guaranteed money in Aiyuk’s contract, “asserting that the absences amounted to a failure to fulfill his contractual obligations.” When approached by the NFL Players Association and asked if he wanted to push back with an official grievance, Aiyuk expressed that he had no interest. With no guarantees for next year, it’s expected the 49ers would release Aiyuk from his contract, making him a free agent.
According to Russini and Silver, there are still some in the building who are “holding out hope that the relationship can be salvaged” and that he might still make his debut this season, but reconciliation seems an unlikely result at this point. Now, those teams that were connected to Aiyuk after his trade request — the Steelers, Browns, and Patriots, who all could use a big upgrade at the position — will likely be watching this situation closely, hoping for Aiyuk’s eventual release.
Who is the next sucker?
Going full DeVondre Campbell.
This seemed inevitable since he signed his extension. Neither side seemed to really want to do it, but did it anyway.
So if he gets his apparent wish and is released, what is his plan here? Hit the market for the 2026 season having collected a grand total of 25 catches in just seven games played in 2024 and 2025 combined? Yeah, teams will be just beating down his door to pay him, especially with this reputation.
A smarter player who wants out would do everything he needed (workouts with the team, attending meetings, etc) to keep getting paid, then get out on the field, show your worth, and request a trade. Can’t imagine he’ll end up ahead of the game financially here.
You seen this league? If he’s recovered, he’ll get signed. He was the #1.5 receiver on a Super Bowl participant. He’ll get 28 million easy, probably more with how this league throws money at receivers. He just really didn’t seme to want to be there, and the 49ers didn’t exactly want him back, which made that last minute re-sign all the more bizarre.
I strongly disagree that he will get $28 million when A) he’s proven to be a malcontent, and B) he will have two straight years of injuries and ineffectiveness. There’s only about 10 WRs in the league making $28+ million and Aiyuk isn’t as good as any of them. No one is going to be tripping over themselves for Aiyuk.
Hello Kansas City
No cap room. 31 million over the cap right now.
How many more receivers need to go there to make Chief fans realize it’s not the receivers that are the issue. Mahomes #1 in his best years was Kelce, and as he’s slowed down, so has he. They need to hit on a successor to him like a Brock Bowers or Sam LaPorta, which isn’t exactly easy since TEs of that caliber don’t grow on trees and most of them take a few years to develop, unlike those two who hit the ground running.
Looks like they should have taken that Browns Amari Cooper deal or whatever Pitt was offering. He will probably go to Wash because Jayden and him are close. He won’t get much since they dragged feet for Terry who means more to the org.
He refused to re-sign with Cleveland. It wasn’t the 49ers holding it up. The two teams he wanted to go to weren’t going to give more than a 2nd rounder for him. McLorin and Aiyuk both suffered the same fate after doing the hold-in thing. These teams probably need to resolve these issues before training camp if they want to get normal production out of these players.
Thank God. Never wanted them to give him the contract they did. Would have much rather held on to Deebo and let Aiyuk walk in the first place.
So, like…what’s going on with this guy?
CTE? Drugs? Got paid and doesn’t care at all anymore?