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 went downhill between the two teams after Aiyuk signed a massive four-year contract extension in the 2024 offseason. The star wideout suffered a torn ACL and ACL during the 2024 offseason, then had the guarantees in his contract revoked last season after he chose not to report to rehab.
Aiyuk did not play the entire 2025 season and it is clear that he will not return to the organization, although he remains on the roster until July.
Last week, NBC Sports Bay Area’s Matt Maiocco delved deeper into the situation and shared his thoughts on Aiyuk’s actions. He revealed that there were doubts within the 49ers organization about the wideout’s wishes for his future two years ago.
“I mean, two years ago when these negotiations were going on, there were people in the 49ers organization who thought that Brandon Aiyuk didn’t want to play football anymore because the 49ers made him a contract offer and he just relied on it and didn’t really get back to them.” Maiocco revealed.
“And that relationship seemed to have really broken down at the point where the 49ers didn’t know exactly where Brandon Aiyuk was, where his thoughts were, what his urgency was, or anything else. So you know, obviously, you know, Ayuk hasn’t played great through this thing. Obviously, he’s played very poorly when it comes to just maximizing his NFL career. From the 49ers’ perspective, you could certainly argue that all the signs were there during those negotiations, and they still have that big four-year contract extended, so in the year he worked plus four more years for $120 million, that was a mistake, and I think there was immediate remorse from the 49ers, and rightly so.”
Although the 49ers clearly made a mistake with overtime, Aiyuk’s actions helped them make up for some of it.
“Brandon Aiyuk also gave the 49ers an incredible gift, an incredible blip, by simply not living up to the terms of his contract and not living up to his contract after being injured with a torn ACL,” Maiocco continued. “By not showing up for rehab sessions, check-in sessions and everything else, and by not abiding by the terms of his contract, the 49ers had an incredible opportunity to void the remaining guarantees of his contract. And I think it also gives them the opportunity to recover a lot of the money they’ve already paid him.”
“So not only do the 49ers not have to pay him another penny, whereas if he had just shown up they would have had to pay $27 million for this year. It also allows the 49ers to get some money back, a lot of money back.”
The 49ers already indicted Aiyuk last season because of the future guarantees on his contract. But they could target the wideout for even more money after his recent antics that have had a detrimental effect on the team.
“I don’t know the exact numbers they can get back from Brandon Aiyuk, but I would estimate it to be somewhere between $13.8 million and $18.4 million,” Maiocco added. “The $23 million signing bonus, which is basically an upfront payment for future performance, is $4.6 million per year for those five years. So if the 49ers terminated his contract a year ago at the end of July, they could get back up to $18.4 million. If they just walk away, okay, he had the two years and they would get $13.8 million back. Whatever the case may be, that 49ers are definitely looking for money And there is no representation for Brandon Aiyuk at this time.”
It was certainly an unprecedented situation for Aiyuk to lose a significant amount of money. But it doesn’t seem to be over yet.
https://www.ninersnation.com/san-francisco-49ers-news/160186/san-francisco-49ers-news-brandon-aiyuk-latest-antics-could-cost-him-more-money
