Brandon Aiyuk still wants out of San Francisco. The 49ers still refuse to release him. The Commanders still want to sign him without giving up assets. Nobody is moving. And this is going to be the story of every NFL beat writer’s summer.
The latest from Aiyuk came in the form of Instagram messages taking shots at the 49ers this week. The latest from the 49ers came from Bay Area columnist Tim Kawakami, who wrote Monday that San Francisco cannot win the Aiyuk Cold War if they never actually end it. That is the entire dynamic in one sentence.
Here is where things stand. The 49ers placed Aiyuk on the reserve/left squad list back in December. General manager John Lynch said in January it was safe to say Aiyuk would never play for San Francisco again. Aiyuk has publicly stated he will not report to training camp, will not file for reinstatement, and will not do any kind of business with the 49ers ever again.
The Commanders have made it clear they want him. Aiyuk has made it clear he wants to play with his old Arizona State teammate Jayden Daniels in Washington. What the Commanders will not do is trade real assets for a player they think they can eventually get for free.
This is a Mexican standoff with three players and nobody willing to fire first. The 49ers hold Aiyuk’s rights. The Commanders hold the desire to sign him. Aiyuk holds the leverage of simply not playing. Every side thinks time is on their side. None of them is wrong.
What actually breaks the standoff is boredom. Or a training camp injury on the Commanders’ current wide receiver group. Or a 49ers cap situation that forces Lynch to eat dead money to move on. Absent one of those catalysts, this can genuinely drag into the season.
The precedent is not encouraging either. Le’Veon Bell sat out an entire season during his 2018 contract standoff with the Steelers. It ruined his career. He was never the same player after that lost year. Aiyuk is 27, in his prime, and about to potentially do the same thing.
Financially, Aiyuk is in position to eat this. He signed a four-year, $120 million extension with the 49ers in August 2024 that included $76 million in guaranteed money at signing. He got a $23 million signing bonus. He can afford to wait. His agent can afford to wait. The 49ers can technically afford to have his dead cap sit on their books.
What none of these parties can afford is another season of this. It is bad for football. It is bad for Aiyuk’s brand. It is bad for the 49ers’ locker room culture. It makes the Commanders look weak-willed and unwilling to actually pursue a player they say they want.
Somebody has to blink. The question is whether it happens in July, in August, or in Week 6 of the regular season when Deebo Samuel Jr. tweaks a hamstring and the 49ers realize they need reps at wide receiver more than they need their principled stand against a disgruntled player.
Right now, this is a stalemate. And stalemates in the NFL never end well for anybody involved.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.
