The San Francisco 49ers on Saturday placed Brandon Aiyuk on the reserve/left squad list, ending his 2025 season and likely severing the team’s ties with the talented wide receiver for the future.
As recently as a month ago, coach Kyle Shanahan said Aiyuk had been arriving at the team facility for early-morning rehabilitation sessions and then leaving for the day. Saturday’s transaction suggests Aiyuk hasn’t even been doing the bare minimum in terms of attendance.
The 49ers held out hope at midseason that Aiyuk could help them late in the year, with Shanahan saying the receiver was “week to week” as far as returning to practice after last year’s ACL tear. But with only three weeks of practice remaining in the regular season, time has all but run out for getting him conditioned and acclimated to play in an NFL game.
In July, the 49ers voided the 2026 guaranteed money in Aiyuk’s contract and, according to a report by The Athletic’s Michael Silver and Dianna Russini, he told NFL Players Association representatives he wouldn’t challenge the contract decision through a formal grievance.
“I’ve been coaching over 20 years, and I’ve never been in a situation where a contract’s been voided,” Shanahan said last month. “It takes a lot of things to get a contract voided. Never dealt with that. It was unusual, but it’s stuff I can’t get into right now.”
Aiyuk was the team’s top pass catcher during its run to the Super Bowl in 2023, developing a strong connection with quarterback Brock Purdy and finishing with a career-high 1,342 receiving yards. Aiyuk agreed to a four-year, $120 million extension in August 2024, ending an often-messy, months-long contract dispute. He got off to a slow start that season, then had a multi-ligament knee injury in a Week 7 game against the Kansas City Chiefs.
Aiyuk hasn’t played since, and possibly could have helped in a season in which several other fleet-footed receivers — Ricky Pearsall, Jacob Cowing and Jordan Watkins — have been injured.
“The more speed on the field you have, the better,” Shanahan said Friday. “So when you’re missing a lot of guys who can run, those are guys that you’re possibly counting on, that definitely affects everything.”
With Aiyuk and the 49ers likely heading for a divorce in the offseason, and with Jauan Jennings and Kendrick Bourne heading for free agency, the team is eyeing Pearsall to be the foundation of its receiving corps for the future. Pearsall got off to a hot start this season, but he missed six games with a knee injury and has tallied 20 receiving yards in the three games since.
Watkins, Cowing and veteran Demarcus Robinson are also under contract for next season.
