The Brandon Aiyuk situation in San Francisco somehow keeps getting weirder. The Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office has issued an arrest warrant for the 49ers wide receiver on a misdemeanor charge of exhibition of speed.
The warrant stems from a YouTube video Aiyuk posted in December 2025, in which he appears to drive his Cadillac CT5-V Blackwing at speeds above 100 mph on roads near Levi’s Stadium. Some of those roads have a 40 mph speed limit. The video went viral, then got the Santa Clara Police Department’s attention, then got forwarded to prosecutors in mid-January.
Aiyuk deleted the video and apologized after the backlash. “Sorry ya’ll, my car content won’t come with speeding anymore,” he wrote on YouTube. “Was praying with my son tonight and wouldn’t want anybody else to miss out on an opportunity to do the same with their loved ones. My apologies.”
The apology was the right move. It did not make the case go away.
For Aiyuk, this is another layer on what was already a complicated offseason. He has not played since suffering a torn ACL, MCL, and meniscus in October 2024. That alone would be a tough road back. The off-field stuff has made it worse.
The 49ers voided Aiyuk’s 2026 guaranteed money after he missed mandatory rehab sessions. They placed him on the reserve/left squad list. They have already signaled that he is not in their plans, and the team has been open about wanting to trade or release him.
That market just got harder. Any team interested in Aiyuk now has to factor in his rehab status, his contract situation, an arrest warrant, and his apparent willingness to post questionable content on YouTube while injured. None of that is great.
Aiyuk is 28 years old, and when healthy, he is one of the more talented receivers in football. He had 1,342 receiving yards in 2023 and looked like a true No. 1 option for Brock Purdy. That version of Aiyuk would have lined up a massive new contract. This version of Aiyuk is hoping someone will give him a shot at all.
Former NFL star Dez Bryant weighed in on the warrant, suggesting on social media that the timing might be a strategic attempt to damage Aiyuk’s reputation. That is a conspiracy take, and it ignores the fact that Aiyuk did post the video at issue. The case was always going to come back around.
The 49ers have moved on. They made that clear when they voided his money. Now they are just trying to figure out the cleanest exit.
Aiyuk will likely have to address the warrant through his legal team, possibly with a surrender and arraignment in the coming weeks. The misdemeanor charge is unlikely to result in significant jail time, but it adds to the long list of items he needs to handle before he can focus on football.
This was not supposed to be where the Aiyuk story ended in San Francisco. The team gave him a chance to be a long-term centerpiece, and a combination of injury and decision-making has unwound that plan. Whatever team takes a chance on him next is going to need answers about all of it before they sign the check.
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.
