2026 In Season Thread

[CrimsonCrew]

I did an AI search which may have somewhat debunked my conspiracy theorizing. It's not clear precisely when he left the team. That said, in November when the news came out about the voided guarantees, Barrows said he hadn't seen him at the facility in about six weeks (though that may not have included early morning rehab sessions). Barrows' report suggested that there was a change in Aiyuk's presence starting sometime in October.

Kendrick Bourne was interviewed at one point and said he saw Aiyuk occasionally in the sauna or rehabbing, but seemingly not often. The clear impression is that he was not at meetings, etc. Bourne joined the team in time for Week 2 on 9/14.

In mid-December, the team said they hadn't seen him in at least a month.

So it appears that his departure might have prompted the leak about the guarantees rather than the leak prompting his departure. Or perhaps he just dramatically reduced his attendance and then left altogether after the leak. Regardless, that timeline makes it look more like his actions triggered theirs, rather than the other way around.

[CrimsonCrew]

A couple new Aiyuk updates. Ugh.

Aiyuk has posted an Instagram video of himself chanting "Go Commanders," etc. I haven't watched it. No real surprise.

More interesting, Kittle gave an interview today in essence saying that Aiyuk looked like his old self around the mid-point of the season. Kittle would watch him running before practice, and he was clocking in the 20s in terms of MPH, and showing explosive cutting ability. That's consistent with what we saw from him on the field last year, which may not have been full-go, but was certainly faster than a jog and looked pretty smooth. Frankly he looked better doing that than most of our actual WRs looked in games last year.

That does raise some questions about just what happened last year. The voiding of the guarantees stands out as a very unusual move. For all Kyle's talk about never seeing a player simply step away, I can't recall ever seeing a player's guarantees voided - especially while they were recovering from an injury in the offseason. It's just all very peculiar, and I can't help but wonder how much fault the FO bears. There are many aspects of this that make it look like they had immediate buyer's remorse and looked at the injury as a way to force him out. I'm not defending Aiyuk's behavior during the contract negotiation, while injured, and certainly of late. But it's not all that much of a stretch to see him as a somewhat more sympathetic figure who really was kind of screwed over by the organization. Certainly it wouldn't have made a decisive difference last year, but that playoff loss probably looks a lot different if he's healthy and on the field....

This is one of the quotes from Kittle:

"I used to make it a habit of mine to go out early in the morning before meetings to watch him train because he'd always be out there early, and I watched him run over 22 miles an hour and watched him stop on a dime. He's still got it, but that was eight months ago, so I don't really know. You guys have fun with that, I guess ... You have fun with all that comes with it."

To me, that last line in the most interesting thing he said. We don't know for sure, but George sure seems to be implying that being in the Brandon Aiyuk business involves more than you probably bargained for.

IMO, at first Aiyuk might have been somewhat of a sympathetic character but that all changed once he started posting videos and talking. Dude is literally out there calling the team stupid for giving him a top of the market contract. If that is the case, what does that make him for signing that same contract that tied him to a team/place that he apparently doesn't like? Not to mention dude is filming himself committing crimes, while risking his and other people's safety by driving like a maniac. I guess he's never heard of Henry Ruggs?

I've said it before, but to me the most telling thing in all this is the fact that he declined to file a grievance with the player's union to try and recoup his guaranteed money. While yes, that decision was wholely Brandon's to make, but in this particular case the ramifications goe way beyond himself. His agent and the PU, would have STRONGLY advised him that he needed to file a grievance. That is of course assuming that he had a leg to stand on. If this was a wishy washy reason to void guarantees, you better believe the PU would certainly fight it as they would not want a precedent to be set that team's can void guarantees for trivial reasons. In my opinion, reading the tea leaves sure seem to indicate that Aiyuk didn't have much of a case at all to file a grievance.

I don't doubt that the organization had regrets giving Aiyuk that contract. However, its absolutely not the first time a team had similar regrets, nor is the first time a team had those type of regrets only to see that player get hurt very early into the contract. What is extremely rare (un-precedented?) is a team voiding a player contract due to this type of situation.

In addition, the fact that guys like Bosa are allowed to re-hab away from the team and we have never heard of friction coming from that, shows that this probably goes deeper than Aiyuk just choosing to rehab outside the facility. Perhaps they only allow certain guys to do that, but it would be a pretty bad look if they exerted favoritism in that regard.

The organization had would have a TON to lose if it was deemed that they were mistreating a player, and took it to the extent of un-justly voiding a contract. They would obviously destroy the relationship with "Athletes First" (Aiyuk's agent firm), and every client they have would be steered way clear of San Francisco. Then you would have all the union and league backlash and repercussions. It would be an absolute nightmare for the organization, and certainly not worth it just to get out of a single bad contract a year or 2 early.

Seems like SF fared well enough in free agency. Players talk to each other around the league. Players certainly talk to their agents, who represent several other players. If the team was on some shady stuff with Aiyuk, it would have gotten out. In which case free agents would be hesitant to sign with the 49ers.

Yeah, all fair points and likely true. Aiyuk has handled things in a bizarre way from the beginning, including glibly announcing that he probably made things harder than they needed to be during the negotiations. Saying that, struggling to start the season, and then getting his knee blown out probably just crystallized concerns the team already had about him following the extension negotiations. And his behavior has only gotten more difficult since.

[CrimsonCrew]

In terms of how to handle this, there have been a lot of media personalities saying the Niners should just cut him and move on. I would not be in favor of that. At this point, it seems like all of his actions are intended to reduce his trade value and kill interest by other teams. Fine. You want to pick your team? One that is in conference and that we play fairly early in the season? Fine. You can wait until the absolute last possible moment for us to release you. Which, incidentally, will require you to take action to gain reinstatement and possibly show up at the facility.

He can force their hand by doing that and saying he's ready to practice - at that point, I'm not sure how the Niners keep him off the field, though they mostly managed it with Garoppolo - but they should make him do that before they give in to his antics.

[CrimsonCrew]

Definitely not 100%, but pretty promising for two-and-a-half months before week one. Still really skeptical he'll make the Australia trip - or that he should - but it seems within the realm of possibility that he doesn't start the season on the PUP.

Read on Twitter

[CrimsonCrew]

Love the bucket hat. My wife always shames me when I wear mine.

Read on Twitter

[Pattersonca65]

Seems a bit conspiratorial to me. There are more reasons to want him on the field than off.

Admittedly conspiratorial. It's just so weird that all signs pointed to him being healthy but we didn't activate him. And the timing of his departure seemed to align with news leaking about the voiding of the contract. Given the Niners have done a good job of keeping things in-house, and seemingly only a few people knew about it, it sure seems like the team leaked that information. And I just can't think of a good reason to do so except to piss him off. All signs pointed to him being eager to get back on the field, the team didn't make that move, news leaked about the voided guarantees, and then he disappeared. I don't think it's crazy that they decided that they weren't legit contenders (by then they were missing Warner, Bosa, Williams, Pearsall was hurt, etc.).

Ultimately, as with conflict in any relationship, there is probably blame to go around. And at present he's doing absolutely no favors.

To me it seems he has pent up resentment going back to the contract drama where he wanted to get traded. Lacking options he reluctantly signed the deal but there probably was lingering resentment. Something happened during last season that clearly set him off again and I am sure it probably wasn't much.

[Pattersonca65]

In terms of how to handle this, there have been a lot of media personalities saying the Niners should just cut him and move on. I would not be in favor of that. At this point, it seems like all of his actions are intended to reduce his trade value and kill interest by other teams. Fine. You want to pick your team? One that is in conference and that we play fairly early in the season? Fine. You can wait until the absolute last possible moment for us to release you. Which, incidentally, will require you to take action to gain reinstatement and possibly show up at the facility.

He can force their hand by doing that and saying he's ready to practice - at that point, I'm not sure how the Niners keep him off the field, though they mostly managed it with Garoppolo - but they should make him do that before they give in to his antics.

I don't know that he is intentionally trying to reduce his trade value and interest in other teams or if he is just a total knucklehead, but the fact that he is putting all of his eggs on the Commanders and turning off other teams tells me he is a knucklehead.

[CrimsonCrew]

Seems a bit conspiratorial to me. There are more reasons to want him on the field than off.

Admittedly conspiratorial. It's just so weird that all signs pointed to him being healthy but we didn't activate him. And the timing of his departure seemed to align with news leaking about the voiding of the contract. Given the Niners have done a good job of keeping things in-house, and seemingly only a few people knew about it, it sure seems like the team leaked that information. And I just can't think of a good reason to do so except to piss him off. All signs pointed to him being eager to get back on the field, the team didn't make that move, news leaked about the voided guarantees, and then he disappeared. I don't think it's crazy that they decided that they weren't legit contenders (by then they were missing Warner, Bosa, Williams, Pearsall was hurt, etc.).

Ultimately, as with conflict in any relationship, there is probably blame to go around. And at present he's doing absolutely no favors.

To me it seems he has pent up resentment going back to the contract drama where he wanted to get traded. Lacking options he reluctantly signed the deal but there probably was lingering resentment. Something happened during last season that clearly set him off again and I am sure it probably wasn't much.

That actually doesn't make a ton of sense to me as we were willing to trade him to Pittsburgh, which was one of the spots he wanted to go.

I think he was hurt by the contract negotiations because he took it personally. He appears to be a pretty emotionally fragile guy. I'm not saying that to be a dick, it's just an observation based on what we've seen of him.

Certainly he clashed with the FO somewhat after the extension, with the shorts at practice being one concrete, visible symbol of what probably was also going on behind closed doors. And I doubt he handled it well at all.

I still think there are lingering questions about how the FO has handled this. Apparently trying to trade him while he was injured, voiding his guarantees, not getting him on the field when he was apparently healthy. Though it also appears that he wasn't doing what he was supposed to be for a while (based on the Bourne comments). Seems like both sides kind of ratcheted things up instead of trying to reach a compromise. Ultimately, it's hard to see the Niners not getting him on the field if he was healthy, but they may have decided he just wasn't worth the long-term headache.

[CrimsonCrew]

Sherm with his thoughts on what led to the voiding of the guarantees. Sherm still has ties in the building, so there's reason to think he may have some insight into this. And not showing on your reporting date - even if it's earlier because you aren't with the team - is much bigger than just deciding to rehab on your own.

Read on Twitter

[Pattersonca65]

Sherm with his thoughts on what led to the voiding of the guarantees. Sherm still has ties in the building, so there's reason to think he may have some insight into this. And not showing on your reporting date - even if it's earlier because you aren't with the team - is much bigger than just deciding to rehab on your own.

Read on Twitter

Sherman nails it and his last thought I was wondering earlier. If and when things don't go his way in Washington, is he going to act out again? He seems to have issues that arent going to resolve on their own

[Pattersonca65]

BA posting more videos. He is telling the 49ers to cut him so he can sign with the Commanders. LOL, make him stew as long as possible

[CrimsonCrew]

BA posting more videos. He is telling the 49ers to cut him so he can sign with the Commanders. LOL, make him stew as long as possible

If they want to, they can definitely make him dangle still. He has to petition for reinstatement, then actually return to the facility. Then, because he was technically injured when he left, they could set some pretty onerous requirements on him. That gets really far into the petty side of things, so not at all confident they'd go that far, but at this point I wouldn't blame them all that much. This is getting absurd.

[Pattersonca65]

BA posting more videos. He is telling the 49ers to cut him so he can sign with the Commanders. LOL, make him stew as long as possible

If they want to, they can definitely make him dangle still. He has to petition for reinstatement, then actually return to the facility. Then, because he was technically injured when he left, they could set some pretty onerous requirements on him. That gets really far into the petty side of things, so not at all confident they'd go that far, but at this point I wouldn't blame them all that much. This is getting absurd.

“I think every time he opens his mouth, he damages his standing with other teams, and he scares other teams from bringing him into their organization," Schefter said. "In speaking with teams, everybody's saying, 'What's wrong with this guy right now?' It's unsettling to watch him, and it's scary to see how he's handling himself.”

Schefter then reminded his viewers/listeners that, with Aiyuk still employed by the 49ers, he could certainly be doing nothing more than bringing fines upon himself.

"By the way, he’s still a member of the 49ers, the team that paid him, and he’s saying 'Go Commanders'… I even asked Washington their thoughts on signing Brandon Aiyuk, maybe for all we know, they’re planning on doing it, but I know, having spoken to them leading up to the draft, they had some questions at that point in time, and I would imagine they still exist.”

The Commanders could very well sign him to a prove-it deal although it appears they have some reservations. Would be funny if the Commanders passed on him though.

[thesack12]

Read on Twitter

This dude is completely out of touch.

He's going to get himself blackballed from the NFL.

[thesack12]

Is Aiyuk's agent just completely inept. Is he not advising him, that openly talking about joining another team, while still under contract with another isn't kosher? Hell, for that matter, is the agent not telling Aiyuk the fastest/easiest way to get what he wants is to just report to the 49ers?

At this point, I think the more likely scenario is Aiyuk's agent is giving him the proper guidance but Brandon just doesn't care.

[thesack12]

Sherm with his thoughts on what led to the voiding of the guarantees. Sherm still has ties in the building, so there's reason to think he may have some insight into this. And not showing on your reporting date - even if it's earlier because you aren't with the team - is much bigger than just deciding to rehab on your own.

Read on Twitter

Yeah, not reporting is a big deal.

I personally think it goes deeper than that. How much deeper and what else might be involved, I'm not sure. I just know that voiding a contract, is an extremely rare occurrence, possibly even unprecedented for a player that wasn't on the commissioner's exempt list. Last offseason, SF had legit Super Bowl aspirations, and likely wouldn't have been thrilled to have one of their best offensive weapons just deleted from the team.

If the primary issue was Aiyuk just not reporting when required I would think they could have figured something out whether it be fines, game suspensions or whatever. Then again, we don't know how late he was to report and what the surrounding circumstances were. Was he like a week or more late, and just flat out ghosted the team by refusing to be in contact as to why he wasn't where he was supposed to be?

The relationship between SF and Aiyuk wasn't harmonious. So maybe SF was just fed up with him, and him not reporting was just the straw that broke the camel's back so they decided to move on.

Still Aiyuk being in camp for awhile, then he just stopped being there, makes me think at the very least something else happened after the contract was voided.

The more we see and hear from Aiyuk, coupled with Kittle's quote of "have fun that comes with all that (meaning Aiyuk)" sure makes you lean towards believing this whole thing was primarily of Aiyuk's creation.

[CrimsonCrew]

I think we're receiving clear signs that this is someone who you can't really communicate with in conventional ways. It doesn't appear that you can just have a sit-down with Aiyuk and say, "Hey, no hard feelings after the contract negotiation. That's how it goes, we want you here, now let's get after it." He seems to take things EXTREMELY personally, and react in...I don't know if passive-aggressive quite captures it, but bizarre and indirect ways.

This isn't someone who appears capable of drawing the distinction between, "Well, I can rehab on my own, but I have to make X date and Y date, etc."

The more this goes on, the more I'm inclined to believe that the team doesn't bear as much responsibility as Aiyuk does. I just don't know how you work with someone who reacts in this way. Granted it's kind of a bad look that, presumably having some inkling of this stuff, they decided to sign him to such an awful contract. They should have just traded him, or built in more safeguards for the team.

[CrimsonCrew]

There's definitely still some weirdness going on in all of this. Can't recall if I've posted this before, but this is Aiyuk, in the preseason, before the Raiders game. Maybe not 100%, but looks around 80%, and probably faster than any WR not named Ricky Pearsall made cuts during a regular season game for us last year. Kittle's statements are very believable, and raise the question of why he wasn't playing.

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/MZKphwGyems