Brandon Aiyuk is not planning to change. Not for a new team, not for any front office, not for anyone.
The 49ers wide receiver, who has spent the last year locked in an increasingly bitter standoff with San Francisco, put out a video this week making it clear that if he ever plays NFL football again, the social media act is staying the same.
“I gotta get paid somehow, because the employer holding me captive without any pay. At least social media paying,” Aiyuk said. “I’ll tell y’all what. I get a job back in the NFL, man, I’m still gonna be on my bull**** on social media.”
That clip went up Tuesday and, predictably, did not exactly make the phone ring off the hook with trade offers.
The injury, the voided money, the whole mess
Aiyuk hasn’t played since tearing his ACL, MCL, and meniscus in October 2024. That alone would complicate his future. But the relationship with the 49ers has cratered so badly that general manager John Lynch said back in January that Aiyuk had already played his last down for the team.
The 49ers voided about $27 million in guaranteed money last summer after Aiyuk missed rehab appointments. Since then, he has refused to formally request reinstatement from the reserve/left squad list. Instead he just posts videos criticizing the organization. A lot of them.
He’s still under contract through 2028. No agent. No team willing to trade for a receiver coming off a catastrophic knee injury with a complicated contract and a social media habit that some rival front offices have privately described as off-putting. Not helpful to his own cause either.
Washington cooled off fast
There was some buzz earlier this year about the Commanders maybe taking a flier on Aiyuk. That momentum disappeared after he took shots at Jayden Daniels on social media. Quarterbacks tend to remember that kind of thing. So do the guys who pay them.
Aiyuk turns 28 this year. The window to make a comeback is still technically open, but it’s getting narrower by the month. And by his own admission, he isn’t planning to start playing nice to get back in the building.
Whatever happens next with Aiyuk, it’s going to look a lot like what has already been happening. The video was the latest reminder that he sees his online presence as a salary source, a therapy session, and a negotiating tactic all rolled into one. Whether any NFL team sees it that way is the real question.
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