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The situation between Brandon Aiyuk and the San Francisco 49ers has already had one insider scratching his head. Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated, however, pondered why the franchise hasn’t released the disgruntled wide receiver already and wondered what the holdup is. On Friday, insider Ian Rapoport of the NFL Network tried making sense of it all, trying to see it from Aiyuk’s point of view.
During a guest appearance on “The Pat McAfee Show,” Rapoport appeared to be bewildered by the 28-year-old wideout’s constant posting on Instagram. He called it a weird strategy and explained how players usually listen to people around them to prevent publicly bashing their team. But Aiyuk appears not to have that, or isn’t listening to advice.
“I think, I don’t know this, but I think the idea is you create enough noise, enough negative publicity, you become so toxic that the 49ers will go, ‘Okay, I can’t deal with this anymore. I’m tired of the headlines… I’m just going to cut him.’ [The 49ers] seem to not want to. And the fact that he has already identified his next landing spot, my guess is, would make [the 49ers] angrier… But, man. This has gotten weird…
“It just never happens because usually you’ll have people close to the player,” continued Rapoport, “let’s say Brandon Aiyuk in this case, where you say, ‘Listen, if you just kinda be quiet, this is gonna be okay. Just don’t be that guy that everyone is gonna be annoyed with’, and he does not seem to be listening to people close to him at all and hasn’t been for some time.”
Ian Rapoport was asked if he’s ever seen a player that’s under contract by one team and bad mouthing them, while saying they want to play for another team:
“It just never happens because usually you’ll have people close to the player, let’s say Brandon Aiyuk in this case, where… pic.twitter.com/qLNZDjTHEj
— Coach Yac (@Coach_Yac) June 26, 2026
The five-year veteran has made it incredibly clear he wants to play for the Washington Commanders. Throughout the non-stop Instagram posting and holding out with San Francisco, the 49ers have voided his roughly $27 million worth of guaranteed money for next season. Brandon Aiyuk also claimed on Friday that he fired his agent back in November 2025, which would explain the IG posting.
Many expect the 49ers to eventually release him from the roster. But for whatever reason, the front office has shown no indication of following through with that. But as Rapoport suggested in the clip above, only time will provide the answer for how things shake out in San Francisco.
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