Brandon Aiyuk was back on Instagram on Tuesday, and this time he aimed straight at the San Francisco 49ers. He called them stupid for paying him, said they were mad after sending him $50 million in eight months, and argued they had already voided the guarantees that mattered to him.
The post landed after Aiyuk had already started speaking publicly again on Sunday, his first comments since the team placed him on the reserve/left team list on Dec. 13. He also spent the weekend pushing the story in a different direction, posting a photo of himself in a Washington Commanders hat while trade chatter around him kept growing louder.
That chatter has plenty behind it. Aiyuk has not played for San Francisco since Week 7 of the 2024 season, when he tore his ACL, and he later signed a four-year, $120 million extension after holding in during training camp. Over the Cap says he has already earned $48.15 million from that deal, a figure that helps explain why every word he posts now gets treated like part of the contract dispute.
But the fight over the money is not even fully aligned. Aiyuk said the guarantees were voided for 2027, while the contract situation as described has the voided money attached to 2026. He also said he was about to be on a new team in 2027, even though he remains under contract with the 49ers through the 2028 season. That gap matters because it leaves his public certainty running ahead of what the deal actually says.
There is also the practical side, which keeps the 49ers from moving quickly even if they want out. Trading Aiyuk before June 1 would have put $29.6 million in dead money on the upcoming season, while a post-June 1 move would leave $8.3 million in dead money. Cutting him would save $6.3 million on the salary cap but still leave a $7.36 million hit. Those numbers are the reason his future has been tied to timing as much as talent.
NFL Network Insider Ian Rapoport said the 49ers would like to trade Aiyuk, probably to Washington, while the Commanders would like to sign him without giving up trade assets. He said there is no deadline to make a deal and that the standoff could run through the summer if everyone does not get tired of Brandon Aiyuk sending Instagram messages. That may be the clearest read on where this is headed: the sides are not just waiting on a trade, they are waiting on each other to blink.
The longer the posts continue, the harder it becomes to separate frustration from leverage. San Francisco was already open to dealing him in the 2025 offseason, Kyle Shanahan had talked during the season about a possible return around Week 6 of the '25 season, and that return never came. John Lynch later said it was safe to say Aiyuk would not play for the 49ers again. Tuesday did not change that reality. It only made it louder.
