Brandon Aiyuk is a Quitter! Pick #25, 2020 NFL Draft

Originally posted by 49er-from-Yavin-IV:

Originally posted by 49HD87:
How did the 49ers get here with BA? Anyone know the full story?

I don't think so. No side was really happy with the contract negotiation process and after it was over that feeling lingered/lingers.

Then BA gets badly injured by the Chiefs defenders in the middle of the 2024 season.

During the recovery process BA doesn't feel love from the team and decides to entirely cut them out of his rehab process.

The bean counters (which were not happy to begin with) now have a valid reason to nullify previous contract guarantees and they go with it.

BA, who was already butt hurt originally, becomes further butt hurt and just stops showing up.

He has no recourse to do anything via the NFLPA because it was his mistake(s) to begin with. Team puts him on the shelf.

Team plans to cut BA with a June 1st designation, but they also want to see if they can find a trade partner, too, before they cut him.

They are also not interested in continuing to reward bad behavior, so anything they do will be on their own schedule (up until they have to cut him.)

That is a pretty accurate summary.

Your last two lines sum up where we are now. They will wait until it is clear they will get nothing before releasing him. In the meantime, some team may feel he has some value but are not willing to compete with other teams for him as a FA so they make a deal. Even if it is only late 3rd day pick, it is better than nothing.

Originally posted by dj43:

Originally posted by 49er-from-Yavin-IV:

Originally posted by 49HD87:
How did the 49ers get here with BA? Anyone know the full story?

I don't think so. No side was really happy with the contract negotiation process and after it was over that feeling lingered/lingers.

Then BA gets badly injured by the Chiefs defenders in the middle of the 2024 season.

During the recovery process BA doesn't feel love from the team and decides to entirely cut them out of his rehab process.

The bean counters (which were not happy to begin with) now have a valid reason to nullify previous contract guarantees and they go with it.

BA, who was already butt hurt originally, becomes further butt hurt and just stops showing up.

He has no recourse to do anything via the NFLPA because it was his mistake(s) to begin with. Team puts him on the shelf.

Team plans to cut BA with a June 1st designation, but they also want to see if they can find a trade partner, too, before they cut him.

They are also not interested in continuing to reward bad behavior, so anything they do will be on their own schedule (up until they have to cut him.)

That is a pretty accurate summary.

Your last two lines sum up where we are now. They will wait until it is clear they will get nothing before releasing him. In the meantime, some team may feel he has some value but are not willing to compete with other teams for him as a FA so they make a deal. Even if it is only late 3rd day pick, it is better than nothing.

Unless it's a decent offer for a high draft pick I'd just hold on to his rights indefinitely. He'll have to show up if he ever wants to play in the NFL again which I have doubts of as we've learned of his lack of love for the game. He waits long enough he'll just 86 himself completely out of his career...if he shows up there will be steps to take before we release him but then it's on our terms and not to benefit him after screwing with the team last year.

Originally posted by jcs:

Originally posted by dj43:

Originally posted by 49er-from-Yavin-IV:

Originally posted by 49HD87:
How did the 49ers get here with BA? Anyone know the full story?

I don't think so. No side was really happy with the contract negotiation process and after it was over that feeling lingered/lingers.

Then BA gets badly injured by the Chiefs defenders in the middle of the 2024 season.

During the recovery process BA doesn't feel love from the team and decides to entirely cut them out of his rehab process.

The bean counters (which were not happy to begin with) now have a valid reason to nullify previous contract guarantees and they go with it.

BA, who was already butt hurt originally, becomes further butt hurt and just stops showing up.

He has no recourse to do anything via the NFLPA because it was his mistake(s) to begin with. Team puts him on the shelf.

Team plans to cut BA with a June 1st designation, but they also want to see if they can find a trade partner, too, before they cut him.

They are also not interested in continuing to reward bad behavior, so anything they do will be on their own schedule (up until they have to cut him.)

That is a pretty accurate summary.

Your last two lines sum up where we are now. They will wait until it is clear they will get nothing before releasing him. In the meantime, some team may feel he has some value but are not willing to compete with other teams for him as a FA so they make a deal. Even if it is only late 3rd day pick, it is better than nothing.

Unless it's a decent offer for a high draft pick I'd just hold on to his rights indefinitely. He'll have to show up if he ever wants to play in the NFL again which I have doubts of as we've learned of his lack of love for the game. He waits long enough he'll just 86 himself completely out of his career...if he shows up there will be steps to take before we release him but then it's on our terms and not to benefit him after screwing with the team last year.

It is going to be on our terms anyway. The only question is about what we might get in return. I would be shock if we got a 4th for him. No chance it goes higher than that. No one knows if he can even play again. The best he will do is get a low-end prove-it deal with some good incentives.

This is good! Hold on to him until a cap restricted team that needs a WR offers something. The more the 49ers wait the more affordable he becomes to a team.

You know it was bad if TJ is advocating future teams to be cautious of his next contract.

Originally posted by 49er-from-Yavin-IV:

Originally posted by 49HD87:
How did the 49ers get here with BA? Anyone know the full story?

I don't think so. No side was really happy with the contract negotiation process and after it was over that feeling lingered/lingers.

Then BA gets badly injured by the Chiefs defenders in the middle of the 2024 season.

During the recovery process BA doesn't feel love from the team and decides to entirely cut them out of his rehab process.

The bean counters (which were not happy to begin with) now have a valid reason to nullify previous contract guarantees and they go with it.

BA, who was already butt hurt originally, becomes further butt hurt and just stops showing up.

He has no recourse to do anything via the NFLPA because it was his mistake(s) to begin with. Team puts him on the shelf.

Team plans to cut BA with a June 1st designation, but they also want to see if they can find a trade partner, too, before they cut him.

They are also not interested in continuing to reward bad behavior, so anything they do will be on their own schedule (up until they have to cut him.)

I thought he stopped showing up way before they nullified his guarantees? Shanny had said he hadn't seen him in a month or something like that in the press conference afterwards no?

These are the things I've taken note
Wide open for the Super Bowl win, we lose
Messy contract negotiations (even though he didn't help)
Fans booing him when he was dropping passes
Gets a career altering injury against the chiefs of all teams
We explore trade options after (kinda can see how that can hurt but all this?)

Also remember hearing a player can't remember which one saying the 9ers want injured players in the building early and kinda implied that rubbed Aiyuk wrong.

Originally posted by Since07:
I thought he stopped showing up way before they nullified his guarantees? Shanny had said he hadn't seen him in a month or something like that in the press conference afterwards no?

These are the things I've taken note
Wide open for the Super Bowl win, we lose
Messy contract negotiations (even though he didn't help)
Fans booing him when he was dropping passes
Gets a career altering injury against the chiefs of all teams
We explore trade options after (kinda can see how that can hurt but all this?)

Also remember hearing a player can't remember which one saying the 9ers want injured players in the building early and kinda implied that rubbed Aiyuk wrong.

Your timeline is off. He did something (missed meetings, rehab assignment(s) etc), that allowed them to void his guarantees. That was in July. He didn't stop showing up completely until the news broke publicly in November. At that press conference Shanny had said he had just seen him the previous Friday.

Shanahan said he hadn't seen him in a month in December, when they put him on left-squad/reserve list. The timing of that move is really all you need to know. He would have been on that list earlier if he abandoned the team earlier.

Originally posted by dj43:

They will wait until it is clear they will get nothing before releasing him. In the meantime, some team may feel he has some value but are not willing to compete with other teams for him as a FA so they make a deal. Even if it is only late 3rd day pick, it is better than nothing.

If a team trades for Aiyuk, aren't they obligated to take his existing contract, which seems nobody would take on as is. Unless they could agree to renegotiate it?

Originally posted by maxsmart:
If a team trades for Aiyuk, aren't they obligated to take his existing contract, which seems nobody would take on as is. Unless they could agree to renegotiate it?

Yea, a trading team would want to restructure his deal, and that gives Aiyuk power in the process.

Basically if we continue to hold him we're hoping the Commanders (or another team he's willing to play for) give us a 7th round pick. The only real incentive for that team would be to get him as early as possible, given they know we aren't keeping him.

Originally posted by SmokeyJoe:
Yea, a trading team would want to restructure his deal, and that gives Aiyuk power in the process.

Basically if we continue to hold him we're hoping the Commanders (or another team he's willing to play for) give us a 7th round pick. The only real incentive for that team would be to get him as early as possible, given they know we aren't keeping him.

I told you long ago we'd hold him hostage so …

I'll never understand what the heck Aiyuk was thinking or is thinking. What's his end game? It's just sad. I'd give Aiyuk and his agent permission to seek a trade and a restructuring of the contract.

Originally posted by SanFranFanfrmVa:
I'll never understand what the heck Aiyuk was thinking or is thinking. What's his end game? It's just sad. I'd give Aiyuk and his agent permission to seek a trade and a restructuring of the contract.

Too much money changes people

Originally posted by Pillbusta:
I told you long ago we'd hold him hostage so …

You suggested they leave him on the left-squad/reserve list as retaliation, which is an improper use of the list and would assuredly violate the CBA, with no regard for the 49ers interest in clearing his contract. Remember all your arguments about the tolling of his contract? Like we'd want to push a monster dead cap charge into the future.

We'll see how long they hold him in an attempt to generate a trade offer. It's been a day.

Originally posted by Cisco0623:

Originally posted by Heroism:

TJ Houshmandzadeh (BA's WR coach):

"Brandon Aiyuk was always a monster. The money just brought the monster out in him." pic.twitter.com/s8MaTvIttF

— Coach Yac 🗣 (@Coach_Yac) March 12, 2026

Is he trying to help him or hurt him? lol

This has been stupid of TJ.

Even if Aiyuk is in the wrong with the team (or if he fired/ghosted TJ), you don't throw your former player client under the bus.

Other established WRs might not work with TJ if he's going to be doing the media rounds, if they also have a falling out with him.

Originally posted by Afrikan:

Originally posted by Cisco0623:

Originally posted by Heroism:

TJ Houshmandzadeh (BA's WR coach):

"Brandon Aiyuk was always a monster. The money just brought the monster out in him." pic.twitter.com/s8MaTvIttF

— Coach Yac 🗣 (@Coach_Yac) March 12, 2026

Is he trying to help him or hurt him? lol

This has been stupid of TJ.

Even if Aiyuk is in the wrong with the team (or if he fired/ghosted TJ), you don't throw your former player client under the bus.

Other established WRs might not work with TJ if he's going to be doing the media rounds, if they also have a falling out with him.

lol it's all TJ's fault