Want more ways to catch up on the latest in Bay Area sports? Sign up for the Section 415 email newsletter here and subscribe to the Section 415 podcast wherever you listen.
Brandon Aiyuk is done for the 2025 season — and his time with the 49ers is almost certainly finished, too. The 49ers placed Aiyuk on the Reserve/Left Squad list this past week, and the receiver’s five-day window to report back to the team has expired — making him ineligible to return this season.
It’s a move that the 49ers never wanted — but were ultimately compelled — to make. Aiyuk didn’t honor the terms of the 2024 contract he signed with the 49ers — a pact worth up to $120 million — thereby forcing the team’s hand.
The 49ers fired a warning shot in July, voiding $27 million of Aiyuk’s guarantees for the 2026 season after the receiver missed summer knee rehabilitation sessions that he’d been contractually obligated to attend. Aiyuk, who tore his ACL and two other knee ligaments seven weeks into the 2024 season, did not fight that decision. Initially a frequent and visible observer on the 49ers’ practice field, he withdrew from the public eye as this 2025 season progressed.
Some 49ers officials had expressed optimism that Aiyuk, who’s under contract through 2028, would honor his deal and return to the lineup when he again reached full health. But that optimism faded over time and completely cratered in recent days.
“At this point, it doesn’t seem like he’s coming back, so I try not to even think about it,” 49ers tight end George Kittle said. “Because I love Brandon. He’s one of my favorite teammates I’ve played with. We’ve had a lot of moments and memories together. That’s the Brandon I remember, and if I think about how I wish he’d be here and stuff like that — that kind of just makes me sad.
2 days ago
5 days ago
Friday, Dec. 5
“So I just kind of just push it to the side. We’ve got to make due with what we’ve got in locker room, and the guys that are here want to be here.”
The 49ers, who enter Sunday’s game against the Tennessee Titans at 9-4 and in the thick of the Super Bowl chase, didn’t want Aiyuk’s absence to be a distraction entering the stretch run. They’re also likely interested in recouping as much money from Aiyuk as possible so that they can fit more players into their crowded financial situation beyond 2026.
The July voiding of Aiyuk’s 2026 guarantees opened the door for the 49ers to clear about $85 million of long-term spending space if they were to move on from Aiyuk when it’s feasible to do so next year. Saturday’s move to the Left Squad list, a de facto suspension, clears way for the 49ers to go after money they’ve already paid Aiyuk in a 2024 signing bonus and in 2025.
Most of the receiver’s 2025 pay came via a $22.85 million option bonus that the 49ers paid out before the season began. Lawyers will likely determine the final tallies here, because Aiyuk’s rehabilitation schedule (the 49ers said he was approaching a return earlier this season) might complicate matters. But under NFL rules, the 49ers can incrementally claw back bonus money when a player commits a “forfeitable breach” of his contract (opens in new tab).
Unused salary-cap space carries over from season to season and the 49ers generally manage their financial situation through a big-picture lens, so every bit of money that they retrieve during the course of Aiyuk’s prolonged exit can be reapplied to investments elsewhere. Perhaps fellow receiver Jauan Jennings, who has wanted an extension since the offseason, will get one now. The 49ers will certainly be primed to spend more come free agency in March.
It likely won’t be feasible to formally move on from Aiyuk until the 2026 league year begins. The current prorated remainder of Aiyuk’s 2024 signing bonus and 2025 option bonus — a total of about $31 million — will hit as an acceleration against the salary cap whenever he formally leaves the 49ers. If the 49ers wait to release Aiyuk with a post-June 1, 2026 designation (they can’t do that until March), they can stave off the enormous dead money hit and actually open about $2 million in near-term salary-cap space.
Theoretically, the 49ers can also trade Aiyuk — but that would require cooperation from him, which has seemed impossible to attain. No trade suitor would be willing to take on Aiyuk’s contract as it currently stands. He’d be due another $24.9 million option bonus by Sept. 1. So Aiyuk would have to be willing to renegotiate his deal for a new team before a trade can actually happen.
A release, then, is by far the most likely ultimate resolution of what’s been a torturous situation. The 49ers, who’d previously been on schedule to pay out $48.9 million over just the past two seasons to Aiyuk for just seven games and 25 catches of production, are now in line to reclaim a chunk of that money and free themselves from tens of millions in further commitments.
In 2024, it appeared that the 49ers and Aiyuk had struck a deal that both parties could benefit from. But the 49ers quickly regretted finalizing that pact. Animosity surrounding the negotiation, which Aiyuk artificially prolonged by waiting 17 days to finally sign his $120 million contract, seemed to linger past the deal’s finalization. Then came Aiyuk’s severe knee injury and the 2025 return that never materialized.
Much of the why from Aiyuk’s perspective has yet to be answered. But this much is clear: He didn’t honor his side of that contract, and the 49ers — after several months of hoping for a more positive resolution — have now slammed the door on a 2025 return.
They put the ball in Aiyuk’s court. He didn’t pass back.
Now, the 49ers venture forward on their title push with a clear need for more production out of the receiver position. With Aiyuk — who was spectacularly good over the 2023 season that earned him the 2024 contract extension — officially out of the picture, second-year man Ricky Pearsall is an even clearer hinge point for an offense that will try to lead the team to a deep postseason run.
