Nobody knows what’s going on with Brandon Aiyuk.
In January, San Francisco 49ers general manager John Lynch said it was “safe to say” that the beleaguered wide receiver had “played his last snap with the Niners.”
Aiyuk, 28, was San Francisco’s 25th overall in the 2020 NFL Draft, and he blossomed into a star with back-to-back 1,000-yard receiving seasons in 2022 and 2023. In August 2024, the 49ers gave Aiyuk a massive contract extension, but he played only seven games in the 2024 season before tearing his ACL and MCL.
Aiyuk essentially disappeared from the team after that, failing to appear for team-mandated rehabilitation appointments during the 2025 offseason, resulting in the 49ers voiding the guaranteed money in his contract.
Yet, as we approach the end of May, Aiyuk remains on the 49ers.
NFL insider Mike Garafolo thinks Aiyuk should take advantage of that.
“If I could advise Brandon Aiyuk, I would tell him to show up for work,” Garafolo said on “The Rich Eisen Show” on Tuesday. “I would have told him to show up for work a couple of weeks ago. Go ahead. See if they’re willing to let you work out and run routes and do things at their facility.”
Garafolo added,
“He did not do that. He has not done that. He’s got a lot of pride. I mean, that’s kind of why we are where we are because it was strongly suggested to him that he show up for everything he needed to show up for last year during his rehab and team meetings because they’re gonna take those guarantees away. And he didn’t listen to those warnings all along the way, and now he’s at a point where the team is controlling things rather than him controlling things.
It’s almost out of, I don’t want to say spite, but it’s almost like, ‘You know what? You sort of held us hostage last year, now it’s our turn right now.'”
Ian Rapoport previously told Pat McAfee that the 49ers and the Washington Commanders, who have the most reported interest in Aiyuk, are in a pseudo-staring contest. The 49ers want the Commanders, or any interested team, to trade for Aiyuk, but the Commanders, or any interested team, are waiting for the 49ers to eventually cut him.
Aiyuk has not made any public comments about any of this, so it’s also unknown whether he has any interest in continuing his NFL career, which seems like a pretty important component.
Read the full article here
