The San Francisco 49ers situation with disgruntled wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk has continued throughout the offseason, with the wideout making several statements on social media against his current team as he remains under contract.
Things have been downhill between the two sides after Aiyuk signed a major four-year extension back in the 2024 offseason. The star wideout tore his ACL and MCL during the 2024 offseason, then had the guarantees in his contract last offseason voided after electing not
to report for rehab.
Aiyuk did not play the entire 2025 season, and it’s clear he will not return to the organization, although he remains on the roster heading into July.
Last week, NBC Sports Bay Area’s Matt Maiocco delved into the situation, sharing his thoughts on Aiyuk’s actions. He revealed that even two years ago, there were doubts within the 49ers organization on the wideout’s desires for his future.
“2 years ago, when they were going through these negotiations, I mean, there were people in the 49ers organization who thought that Brandon Aiyuk didn’t want to play football anymore because the 49ers had given him a contract offer and he kind of just sat on it, really didn’t get back to them.” Maiocco revealed.
“And, that relationship really seemed to be fractured at that point where the 49ers weren’t sure exactly where Brandon Aiyuk, where his mind was, what his urgency was, or anything else. So you know obviously, you know, Ayuk hasn’t played this thing great. Obviously, he’s played very poorly as far as just trying to maximize his NFL career. Fom the 49ers standpoint, you could certainly make the argument that all the signs were there during that negotiation, and they still went ahead and signed him to that big money contract. It ended up being a 4-year extension, so the year that he was on plus 4 more years for $120 million. That was a mistake, and I think there was immediate buyer’s remorse from the 49ers, and rightfully so.”
However, while the 49ers clearly made a mistake with the extension, Aiyuk’s actions have helped them make up for part of it.
“Brandon Aiyuk also gave the 49ers an incredible gift, an incredible out by just not fulfilling the terms of his contract and defaulting on his contract after he got injured with the torn ACL,” Maiocco continued. “By him not showing up for rehab sessions, check-in sessions, everything else, by him not following the terms of his contract, it gave the 49ers the incredible opening to void the remaining guarantees of his contract. And I believe it also gives them the ability to go after a lot of the money that they have already paid him.
“So not only will the 49ers not have to pay him another penny, whereas if he had just shown up, they would have been on the hook for $27 million for this year. It also enables the 49ers to get some money back, a lot of money back.”
The 49ers have already gone after Aiyuk for the future guarantees on his contract last offseason. But they could go after the wideout for even more money after his recent antics that have detrimental to the team.
“I don’t know the exact numbers that they will be able to get back from Brandon Aiyuk, but I would put it somewhere between $13.8 million and $18.4 million,” Maiocco added. “So on the $23 million signing bonus, which is basically an advance for future performance, it comes out to $4.6 million per year for those 5 years. So if the 49ers voided his contract a year ago in late July, they could get as much as $18.4 million back. If they just go, okay, he had the 2 years, and so they’d get $13.8 million back. Whatever the case may be, the 49ers are certainly going after that money. And there’s no representation right now for Brandon Aiyuk.”
It’s certainly been an unprecedented situation with Aiyuk walking away from a significant amount of money. But it doesn’t seem to be over just yet.
