NFL insider shares big mistake Brandon Aiyuk made amid career uncertainty

San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk recently generated headlines when he shared multiple videos via social media in which he ripped the 49ers and even suggested they are "scared" to release him. 

On Monday morning, NFL insider Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated explained why Aiyuk may have handled things poorly this spring. 

Brandon Aiyuk should have reported to 49ers for springtime workouts?

"I, for one, don’t understand why he didn’t report to the Niners in the spring so they’d be forced to cut him," Breer wrote about Aiyuk. "The deal Aiyuk did in 2024, for obvious reasons, is no longer worth the paper it was written on. The four-year, $120M extension, agreed to at the end of the summer of 2024, had a $24.935M option bonus, $1.215M base salary, and $750,000 workout bonus for this year. The option bonus and base salary (adding up to $26.15M) vested as fully guaranteed on April 1, 2025. But his actions thereafter voided those guarantees, so the Niners can now walk away without responsibility for any of it."

The 49ers voided the remaining guaranteed money attached to Aiyuk's deal after he did not participate in rehab sessions related to the serious knee injury he suffered in October 2024. Aiyuk hasn't played since he went down with the initial setback, and it's believed the 49ers want to trade him instead of releasing him. 

Aiyuk has been linked with the Washington Commanders. He and Washington quarterback Jayden Daniels were teammates at Arizona State.

Brandon Aiyuk may have learned lesson about social media posts

"Clearly the [49ers don't] want him around," Breer added. "So if he was around, and they wanted to get rid of him, they’d have to cut him, at which point, he’d be able to go sign with whomever he wanted to (presumably, the Commanders would be his landing spot, given what he has put out there and his relationship with Daniels). For some reason, though, he’d rather post on social media about the $50M he collected for eight months of work, or why he believes the Niners won’t let him go rather than forcing them to."

As Pro Football Talk's Mike Florio noted, Aiyuk recently deleted a pair of Instagram videos that criticized the 49ers. Aiyuk later captioned a different video: "coming to a endzone near [you]."

"Combined with his decision to extend an olive branch by deleting the videos," Florio added, "it’s hard not to wonder whether the 49ers have decided to abandon the effort to trade Aiyuk and to cut the cord in the coming days. That would avoid the awkward dance of Aiyuk showing up to training camp and forcing his release."

Perhaps Aiyuk will be able to participate in training-camp practices with a different team once such sessions get underway in late July.