BREAKING: Brandon Aiyuk OK with 49ers VOIDING $$ — what this WILD TWIST means

BREAKING: Brandon Aiyuk OK with 49ers VOIDING $$ — what this WILD TWIST means

This is crazy. The 49ers have reportedly been able to void the 27 million in remaining guarantees on the mega deal that Brandon Iayuk signed with them just last year. All part of a probable divorce between Iayuk and San Francisco at the end of this season. The breaking news coming in from the Athletic Mike Silver, Diana Rousini. According to sources, this is in their report. Aayuka has failed to attend meetings and declined to participate in other team activities in recent months and the 49ers have grown increasingly frustrated with the receivers’s lack of communication. So, the 49ers responded by voiding the guaranteed money in Aayuk’s contract for 2026, asserting that those absences amounted to failure to fulfill his contractual obligations. Take a look at Aayuk’s deal. He is under contract with the 49ers through 2028. As you can see in that 2026 year, 27 million in guaranteed money. Most of that coming through an option bonus that will pay about 25 million, 24.9 million to be exact. It is due on September 1st of next year. But if you don’t fulfill your contractual obligations and you got to show up to team meetings and and and functions that the team requires even if you are hurt then the team has legal standing to uh obviously avoid those guarantees. The maybe the wildest part of this comes later. Aayuk, according to multiple league sources, told the NFL Players Association that he did not want to fight the 49ers move via an official grievance that obviously would clear the way for his release at the end of this season. So, uh, Aayuk seems to want to get cut according to this report from Mike Silver and Diana Rousini. His agent declined to comment. A spokesman for the 49ers declined to comment. We know that Aayuka has been getting his rehab work done here at the team facility, but we do know that he’s sunk further and further into the background. He used to be running out on the field with the 49ers during practice. That has not been the case for a couple months now. John Lynch has said that he’s been working outside on his normal rehab work, but uh he apparently has not been participating in other team activities in recent months. and the 49ers. We know that there was regret uh rather quickly after they ended the contentious contractual process with Brandon Iayuk in 2024. They ended up signing him for 30 million a year. Uh the 49ers have have used these absences from Brandon Iayuk to to nullify a contract that seemed to have them stuck in cement. But without the 27 million in guarantees, if the 49ers are off the hook for that and Brandon Iayuk does not want to fight the voiding of those guarantees, well, yes, San Francisco can get out of this contract fairly easily. Now, they still have team control of Iayuk through 2028. But the problem is that he’s due that 27 million in compensation, even if it’s not guaranteed for the 2026 season. And if he hadn’t played in over a season and a half, then then I’m not really sure if the contract would be tradable for anything at this point. So, a release probably the most likely, but just wow. This was the most acrimonious contract process that the 49ers went through over the course of the 2024 off season coming off the Super Bowl birth against the Kansas City Chiefs. 49ers obviously weren’t happy about Aayuk’s social media antics. They wanted to run it back in 2024. So, they’re desperate to get a deal done uh either with Aayuk or for involving a trade for a veteran. I know Amari Cooper had been discussed at the time and I know the 49ers were talking with the Pittsburgh Steelers and and the Cleveland Browns, but ultimately Brandon Aayuk signed the contract that was put out there in front of him. Remember, it took him several weeks to sign the offer that the 49ers put out in front of him. So, I think objectively, and we even talked to Brandon Iayuk about this, he said that he was being a bigger pain than he needed to be. Very objectively, I was was the problem throughout especially the end point of that contract negotiation, but they got him back out on the field. Uh the big problem after that was that he did not perform the same way that he had performed in 2023 and before then through the first several games of 2024. There were some drops in there. It just didn’t seem like he was in the best shape. And then he not only tore his ACL, but tore two other ligaments in his knee against Kansas City on October 20th of 2024. That type of injury comes with a return to play timeline of 12 to 18 months for elite athletes. And obviously I falls into that category. But it wasn’t just a clean ACL tear. This was three ligaments 12 to 18 months. And he had a lot of swelling in his knees. So he couldn’t undergo surgery until November. So, it’s only been about 12 months since surgery at this point, which led to the slower obvious timetable and return for Brandon Aayuk than you would normally see. I don’t know if there is any acrimony behind the scenes about the disagreement on on return date. It is shocking that that Brandon Aayuk reportedly is okay with these guarantees being voided. I mean, that that’s just that’s a huge huge uh wow to me because you would think that just by attending meetings and doing what the 49ers are requiring him to do rehab wise, he would automatically get $27 million for 2026. But the fact that this article says that he’s willing to to forego that uh is the the biggest shocker of all. The the 49ers, their receiver position is set now with with Ricky Pearl. I mean, they’re at full strength. We’ve been saying full strength minus Brandon Iayuk, but they’ve got an X in place. They have depth in place with Kendrick Bourne. They’ve got Jawan Jennings healthy again from the rib injury. I mean, everything for the 49ers as far as offensive weaponry has clicked into place. Brandon Iayuk would be a cherry on top. According to the article from Mike Silver and Diana Rousini, there is there are some people in the organization that hope that Aayuk and the 49ers can come to some kind of reconciliation and and give him another shot in in 200 26 with this team. But but it does sound like that faction is in the minority. So o over the coming days, we’re going to have to find out what the hell happened here with Brandon Iayuk to where he’s okay not getting guarantees that were already on his contract that he his agent Ryan Williams negotiated so hard for. I mean, he held out or held in whichever way you want to call it for a contract of this caliber for 27 million to be fully guaranteed in the third season. I mean, it guarantees this was a strong deal that I negotiated with the 49ers and it it gave him a lot of leverage in this situation. The 49ers couldn’t just cut him because of of all that money that he had coming his way and and it was going to be really hard to trade that contract as well. But apparently Brandon Iayuk has been okay with forgoing those guarantees. There’s going to be more coming out to this story. I am sure Kyle Shanahan is going to speak on it tomorrow. But uh this is undoubtedly good news for the 49ers. The fact that that they they can get out of 27 million fully guaranteed to Brandon Iayuk in 2026. That is from Mike Silver and Diana Rousini. You can go ahead and check out the article. We will link it in the description. Bombshell news here from the facility today. Nothing new happened on the practice field. The 49ers were out there with the same guys out as yesterday. Eddie Pinero obviously with a hamstring injury. Robert Beal Jr. is in concussion protocol. And Tatum Bthoon has the high ankle sprain. Luke Gford was a limited participant. There’s no drama on that front as the 49ers prepare for the Arizona Cardinals, but there is drama on the Brandon Aayuk

BREAKING: Brandon Aiyuk OK with 49ers VOIDING his $$ — what this WILD twist means for SF

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David Lombardi covers the 49ers for The SF Standard.

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