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Brandon Aiyuk didn’t play a single snap with the 49ers this season after failing to return from an ACL injury that sidelined him in 2024. Now, all signs point to his time in San Francisco coming to an end after Kyle Shanahan acknowledged he gave up on the wide receiver who went radio silent on the team.
The 49ers scooped up Brandon Aiyuk with the 25th overall pick in the 2020 NFL Draft, and the Arizona State product did well enough over the course of his first four seasons in the league to land a four-year contract extension worth $120 million ahead of the 2024 campaign.
Unfortunately, it was cut short after seven games when he tore his ACL and MCL against the Chiefs. He was still recovering from that fairly devastating setback when he was placed on the PUP list over the summer, but it did seem like there was a good chance he’d be healthy enough to return at some point in 2025.
However, that did not end up being the case, and in November, we were treated to a very interesting twist when the 49ers revealed they had voided his contract guarantees for 2026 to the tune of around $27 million due to his refusal to fulfill the obligations.
Now, we’ve gotten some more insight into just how much the relationship between the two sides deteriorated based on what the team’s general manager and head coach had to say at a recent press conference.
The 49ers have no idea why Brandon Aiyuk cut off communication while he was recovering from an injury
Aiyuk was the team’s leading wide receiver during the 2023 season, and things got a bit messy when he threatened to sit out and ended up at the center of a potential trade with the Steelers before the aforementioned extension was signed a little over a week before the 49ers played their first game in 2024.
It appeared there were still some lingering tensions when you consider he was also linked to trade rumors during the most recent offseason despite his injury, and those suspicions were firmly confirmed based on what transpired over the course of 2025.
Aiyuk reportedly stopped showing up to the team’s facilities for rehab sessions, and the only footage we got of him in the vicinity of Levi’s Stadium during the season was a clip of him speeding by the venue at more than 60 MPH over the speed limit.
Kyle Shanahan calls the Brandon Aiyuk situation “confusing” and something he’s never seen in his 22 years coaching in the NFL.
“Communication stopped for me when I tried getting a hold of him and couldn’t. Tried a couple more times and still couldn’t. #FTTB pic.twitter.com/DDYuFirgmT
— NinerStats (@NinerStats) January 21, 2026
On Wednesday, 49ers GM John Lynch and head coach Kyle Shanahan got the opportunity to shed some more light on the situation at a press conference, but they were unable to provide much insight after admitting they’d been ghosted by Aiyuk and weren’t able to offer a concrete explanation for why he ceased communications.
Kyle Shanahan calls the Brandon Aiyuk situation “confusing” and something he’s never seen in his 22 years coaching in the NFL.
“Communication stopped for me when I tried getting a hold of him and couldn’t. Tried a couple more times and still couldn’t. #FTTB pic.twitter.com/DDYuFirgmT
— NinerStats (@NinerStats) January 21, 2026
Shanahan didn’t provide a concrete timeline for the fallout, but he said he and Aiyuk had been in contact before he gave up attempting to reach out to him after being spurned multiple times, adding, “There’s not much of an explanation, because it’s really hard for us and anyone else to understand. It’s something I’ve never seen in 22 years of coaching.”
It seems safe to assume the soon-to-be 28-year-old will be healthy enough to play next season, and if he does suit up, it looks like it’s going to be with another team.