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

Originally posted by Typecast:

Originally posted by SmokeyJoe:
Is the bolded in the speculation section simply because Paraag was never named in the reporting as the person who would gain power in this organizational shift? Or is this simply a supporting piece of evidence for the speculation that Paraag made the decision to keep Aiyuk deactivated in order to facilitate a trade later in the offseason?

For clarity, I buy Paraag as the beneficiary in the 'powershift' but I believe this can only be inferred from publicly available/reported information. The structural dynamics that have been revealed through this situation are what I think 49ers fans should be focused on.

Paraag gaining more power was reported I believe. And we saw it play out with the Greenlaw negotiation in 2024-25. Paraag low-balled him throughout the negotiation, Greenlaw took it as a sign of disrespect, and committed to the idea of entering free agency. At the start of free agency, Shanahan and Lynch flew to Texas to get Greenlaw to give them a couple days to work over Paraag and match the Broncos offer. Greenlaw didn't want to risk it and took the deal. In previous years, Shanahan and Lynch would have just told Paraag to pay the player.

I've never even seen a report of this. Greenlaw knew he wasn't going to be 1A in the shadows of Warner, and he wanted to be 1A so he looked into FA to be that guy somewhere else. Even his father spoke of this.

For the 2nd part Shanny and Lynch flew to try to persuade him to come back and offered a bigger deal than what the Broncos offered, but Greenlaw stayed with the Denver deal because he didn't want to undermine them after agreeing with them already. Greenlaw himself has said that in a interview...

if there were new reports that I didn't see then I could be wrong lol...

I always heard that Greenlaw wanted to be the Fred Warner on another team. He could not achieve that here with Fred being Fred.

He truly believed he could achieve that status out of Fred's shadow and wanted to go be that guy.

I don't think there were any other dynamics at play. Just the desire to take that spotlight. Sometimes it works and sometimes not but I'm glad he's back.

Originally posted by Typecast:
In October 2025, it didn't matter anymore. He played into the 49ers hands before the summer settlement by skipping required meetings then agreed to that settlement that voided his remaining guarantees without letting the PA fight it. My speculation is that the team led him to believe the relationship could be mended and he could have an opportunity to continue to play on the contract. They essentially took him on a ride and bailed on him when he recovered.

The 49ers wouldn't keep him on PUP forever. Just through the 2025 season then trade him this offseason, as they have been. It would have played out the same way. No team is bailing on the 49ers and he's getting cut post 6/1 but before the regular season. It makes me think of the 2016 Kaepernick situation. The front office didn't want to risk him getting injured so they benched him in order to move on from him the following offseason. Kaepernick would renegotiate his contract where he gave up future injury guarantees and the final 3 years of the contract for a player option and to remove any risk for the team to play him.

I don't know, that doesn't add up to me. Aiyuk has an agent. Aiyuk has the players union. To believe this proposed version of events, you'd have to believe that Aiyuk was somehow on an island and only dealing directly with the 49ers.

As for the "keep on pup until offseason, then trade", that is a terrible strategy lol. Why would anyone want to trade for a player who wasn't healthy enough to play for 1.5 years with that contract??

I have no doubt that 49ers management was disappointed after the contract was given (Aiyuk came in out of shape, threw a tantrum during practice, felt like HE was also upset he was still on the 49ers even though he decided to stay??). Then all the stuff that came about after that. I don't ever think a team is blameless in these types of situations but Aiyuk has handled this about as bad as you could imagine. Maybe someday we'll get the real answers.

Originally posted by 9erson3:
I always heard that Greenlaw wanted to be the Fred Warner on another team. He could not achieve that here with Fred being Fred.

He truly believed he could achieve that status out of Fred's shadow and wanted to go be that guy.

I don't think there were any other dynamics at play. Just the desire to take that spotlight. Sometimes it works and sometimes not but I'm glad he's back.

The "Greenlaw didn't want to be Pippen to Warner's Jordan" was free agency PR spin. Same with the "49ers outbid the Broncos". He really didn't want to leave SF but Paraag low-balled him and pushed him away. Lynch publicly talked about "going through the process" and being reactive to the market other teams set for him. FWIW, Krueger said he heard the initial offer Greenlaw got from the 49ers was 1-year $5M. Barrows didn't confirm the number but reported league sources claiming the number was very low.

Originally posted by frenchmov:

Originally posted by Typecast:
In October 2025, it didn't matter anymore. He played into the 49ers hands before the summer settlement by skipping required meetings then agreed to that settlement that voided his remaining guarantees without letting the PA fight it. My speculation is that the team led him to believe the relationship could be mended and he could have an opportunity to continue to play on the contract. They essentially took him on a ride and bailed on him when he recovered.

The 49ers wouldn't keep him on PUP forever. Just through the 2025 season then trade him this offseason, as they have been. It would have played out the same way. No team is bailing on the 49ers and he's getting cut post 6/1 but before the regular season. It makes me think of the 2016 Kaepernick situation. The front office didn't want to risk him getting injured so they benched him in order to move on from him the following offseason. Kaepernick would renegotiate his contract where he gave up future injury guarantees and the final 3 years of the contract for a player option and to remove any risk for the team to play him.

I don't know, that doesn't add up to me. Aiyuk has an agent. Aiyuk has the players union. To believe this proposed version of events, you'd have to believe that Aiyuk was somehow on an island and only dealing directly with the 49ers.

As for the "keep on pup until offseason, then trade", that is a terrible strategy lol. Why would anyone want to trade for a player who wasn't healthy enough to play for 1.5 years with that contract??

I have no doubt that 49ers management was disappointed after the contract was given (Aiyuk came in out of shape, threw a tantrum during practice, felt like HE was also upset he was still on the 49ers even though he decided to stay??). Then all the stuff that came about after that. I don't ever think a team is blameless in these types of situations but Aiyuk has handled this about as bad as you could imagine. Maybe someday we'll get the real answers.

Like 3 weeks ago, there was reporting from Garafolo on Aiyuk's agent Ryan Williams. Williams still represents Aiyuk and Williams explained to Aiyuk how things would play out and advised him against going down this path. Aiyuk made the decision himself. Williams is waiting for Aiyuk to decide how he wants to move forward.

Too much information here. He's as good as gone. The only thing he should be here is out of sight and out of mind.

Originally posted by Typecast:
The "Greenlaw didn't want to be Pippen to Warner's Jordan" was free agency PR spin. Same with the "49ers outbid the Broncos". He really didn't want to leave SF but Paraag low-balled him and pushed him away. Lynch publicly talked about "going through the process" and being reactive to the market other teams set for him. FWIW, Krueger said he heard the initial offer Greenlaw got from the 49ers was 1-year $5M. Barrows didn't confirm the number but reported league sources claiming the number was very low.

Like 3 weeks ago, there was reporting from Garafolo on Aiyuk's agent Ryan Williams. Williams still represents Aiyuk and Williams explained to Aiyuk how things would play out and advised him against going down this path. Aiyuk made the decision himself. Williams is waiting for Aiyuk to decide how he wants to move forward.

That's pretty wild if true. Why have an agent at all? Why are you paying the agent?

Aiyuk doesn't seem to be operating in the real world on many fronts and that is a big part of why we are at this point. Sucks for Aiyuk and sucks for us. No winners in this situation

The "Greenlaw didn't want to be Pippen to Warner's Jordan" was free agency PR spin. Same with the "49ers outbid the Broncos". He really didn't want to leave SF but Paraag low-balled him and pushed him away. Lynch publicly talked about "going through the process" and being reactive to the market other teams set for him. FWIW, Krueger said he heard the initial offer Greenlaw got from the 49ers was 1-year $5M. Barrows didn't confirm the number but reported league sources claiming the number was very low.

Kittle talked about this at some point that the opening offer in his first contract extension was crazy low, and that it was a dog fight to get the $$ but he said he let his agent deal with it. Paraag is a big time low baller in every contract I'm sure.

Originally posted by Typecast:

Originally posted by 49AllTheTime:
I doubt the 49ers are sitting around hoping for a trade, they've moved on

They are definitely trying to trade him. They've even leaked that they can't get a hold of him to see if he could help them get a draft pick by renegotiating his contract.

there's no way they are all huddled around every day trying to trade this guy. There's no need unless another team calls.

Originally posted by frenchmov:

The "Greenlaw didn't want to be Pippen to Warner's Jordan" was free agency PR spin. Same with the "49ers outbid the Broncos". He really didn't want to leave SF but Paraag low-balled him and pushed him away. Lynch publicly talked about "going through the process" and being reactive to the market other teams set for him. FWIW, Krueger said he heard the initial offer Greenlaw got from the 49ers was 1-year $5M. Barrows didn't confirm the number but reported league sources claiming the number was very low.

Kittle talked about this at some point that the opening offer in his first contract extension was crazy low, and that it was a dog fight to get the $$ but he said he let his agent deal with it. Paraag is a big time low baller in every contract I'm sure.

It's all part the negotiation process

Originally posted by frenchmov:

Originally posted by Typecast:
The "Greenlaw didn't want to be Pippen to Warner's Jordan" was free agency PR spin. Same with the "49ers outbid the Broncos". He really didn't want to leave SF but Paraag low-balled him and pushed him away. Lynch publicly talked about "going through the process" and being reactive to the market other teams set for him. FWIW, Krueger said he heard the initial offer Greenlaw got from the 49ers was 1-year $5M. Barrows didn't confirm the number but reported league sources claiming the number was very low.

Like 3 weeks ago, there was reporting from Garafolo on Aiyuk's agent Ryan Williams. Williams still represents Aiyuk and Williams explained to Aiyuk how things would play out and advised him against going down this path. Aiyuk made the decision himself. Williams is waiting for Aiyuk to decide how he wants to move forward.

That's pretty wild if true. Why have an agent at all? Why are you paying the agent?

Aiyuk doesn't seem to be operating in the real world on many fronts and that is a big part of why we are at this point. Sucks for Aiyuk and sucks for us. No winners in this situation

I always thought it's so you can focus on training, etc, and the agent can get you other gigs even outside of football. They also know the contracts and can better negotiate deals. Plus, if they do get you a huge contract, and there are players on the team that aren't paid nearly as much, the animosity is towards their own agent, and your agent, not yourself. This could all be a stupid take, but who knows. At least I admit it.

Originally posted by Phoenix49ers:

Originally posted by saj4423:
happy to see he had shorts on

That knee looks all sorts of not right still with the way he's moving.

Originally posted by frenchmov:
I would be absolutely shocked if we got anything. I'm expecting him to just be cut Sept 1

Yeah, they just want Washington to not have the benefit of Aiyuk having a full training camp to get ready for the season. That is why Aiyuk is posting garbage so that Lynch and Shanahan have to keep fielding questions. At the end of the day it does make them all look silly for extending this drama.

Originally posted by hummbabybear_1:
Yeah, they just want Washington to not have the benefit of Aiyuk having a full training camp to get ready for the season. That is why Aiyuk is posting garbage so that Lynch and Shanahan have to keep fielding questions. At the end of the day it does make them all look silly for extending this drama.

There's no drama. Just good business.

Originally posted by hummbabybear_1:

Originally posted by frenchmov:
I would be absolutely shocked if we got anything. I'm expecting him to just be cut Sept 1

Yeah, they just want Washington to not have the benefit of Aiyuk having a full training camp to get ready for the season. That is why Aiyuk is posting garbage so that Lynch and Shanahan have to keep fielding questions. At the end of the day it does make them all look silly for extending this drama.

49ers don't have to do anything or do anyone any favors right now. Not sure how it makes them look silly.

BA not coming back saves us what 21m in dead cap in 2027.. would be silly to take that hit when we don't have to

There's drama only in Aiyuk's mind. The Niners are fine.
And the people defending him, you can stop already.
The players in the locker room are probably laughing at how dumb Aiyuk is.
You think that Warner who exploded his ankle and fight to come back for the PO is gonna be team Aiyuk?