The San Francisco 49ers have placed Brandon Aiyuk on the reserve/left squad list, ruling him out for the remainder of the season. This move has fueled speculation that the team may part ways with the wide receiver in the offseason.
Strains between Aiyuk and the 49ers became public on November 21, when The Athletic reported the team removed the guaranteed money from the 2026 portion of his contract after he failed to meet certain conditions during training camp. This decision wiped out a $24.935 million option bonus that was set to become guaranteed on April 1.
Less than a month later, on December 13, NBC Sports Bay Area’s Matt Maiocco confirmed Aiyuk’s placement on the reserve/left squad list, further signaling that an offseason separation is likely.
With both sides likely heading toward a separation, Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer shared his thoughts on the situation between Aiyuk and the 49ers.
“He chose to stay in San Francisco,” Breer said on the December 17 edition of “The Breer Report.“ “He wanted to stay in California and he took less money to stay in California. But this is a bizarre situation. I think if you want to put some blame on the Niners here, I think it’s fair to put some blame on the Niners because they had him in their building for four years prior to signing him to that new deal. They knew who he was and they were dealing with him in a contract negotiation that got kind of ugly, and so, like, the warning signs were there.”
Why Do the 49ers Deserve Blame Over Brandon Aiyuk?
Moreover, Breer went into further detail on why the 49ers deserve part of the blame, despite Aiyuk handling this entire situation in a bizarre fashion.
“You’re probably going to move on from him after the year, and they’ve done so many things right over the course of the last nine years that it’s hard to get on Kyle Shanahan or John Lynch too much about this,“ Breer added.
“This is a guy they invested a first-round pick in, and this is a guy they invested a second contract in. This is a guy they should know well enough to know that maybe this sort of thing could happen. So it sucks for the Niners that it’s happened.”
Richard Sherman Talks 49ers, Brandon Aiyuk Situation
Additionally, former 49ers cornerback Richard Sherman shared his take on the situation involving the Arizona State product, who seems likely finished in the Bay Area.
Sherman suggested that once negative reports about Aiyuk and the team started surfacing in the media, a separation became almost inevitable. Still, he doesn’t think San Francisco has been trying to maximize their return, noting that the Aiyuk extension simply hasn’t unfolded as expected.
“It felt like a split was inevitable at the time,“ Sherman said on the December 14 edition of “The Richard Sherman Podcast.” “Maybe things mended a little bit when he got paid, and everyone was happy, but even the way the injury happened stood out. I think he played four games, got banged up, and has not seen the field since. Everything that has come out of the 49ers camp has been pretty negative.
“When every conversation and every interaction turns negative, it feels destined to end in a split. I know people feel strongly about them voiding the guarantee as soon as they could, but the San Francisco 49ers did not want to void Brandon Aiyuk’s guarantee.”
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