The situation between Brandon Aiyuk and the San Francisco 49ers has been one of the most interesting storylines of the season. After sustaining a devastating season-ending injury, Aiyuk didn't suit up for the 49ers during the 2025 season. While he has been a key weapon on San Francisco's offense in the past, this standoff with the organization only increases the belief that he's played his last game in The City.
The situation with Aiyuk has even caught 49ers star tight end George Kittle by surprise. In an interview on the Bussin' With The Boys podcast, Kittle pulled back the curtain a bit on what was occurring.
“The last I saw Aiyuk, because he was kind of at training camp, kind of not. And then he was in and out of the building throughout those first couple of weeks. I started going out to see him in the weight room because he didn’t into the locker room anymore. So he would just go to the weight room to do his rehab.
Kittle continued, “This was this past year. He was under contract. The year after, this was this past season. There was no hold out or anything like that. I would just go out there and talk to him because he didn’t go to meetings or anything like that. I would just talk to him and let him know, ‘Hey, I’m your guy. Just let you know I love ya.’ And then literally I started doing that, call it Week Six. I don’t really know what week it was, and then literally a week later that story came out, like all the crazy stuff. And then I didn’t see him again.”
On Wednesday's edition of ESPN's NFL Live, Adam Schefter further detailed the impasse that the organization is at with Aiyuk and if he'd be released.
“First and foremost, it says that they’re planning to release him, but I’d like to add on that they’re not planning to release him any time soon…They essentially have no guaranteed money left in his contract, so they can hold on to him for the time being. They can hold on to him in the draft and see if they could flip him for a pick at that point in time. They can hold on to him until June.
He added, “They’ve paid him an awful amount of money. I don’t think this is happening any time soon, despite the report, and I think that they’ll be holding on to him for a little while to see if there’s any trade value at all.”
