![\"Brandon](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/brandon-aiyuk-san-francisco-49ers.jpg\")
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(Photo by Stephen Maturen\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n
Brandon Aiyuk\u2019s time with the San Francisco 49ers<\/a> appears to be nearing an end as the team settles into the offseason. After not playing during the 2025 NFL<\/a> season, the wide receiver is widely expected to continue his career with another organization.<\/p>\n That possibility forces the 49ers to weigh how and when to move forward. ESPN\u2019s Nick Wagoner reported on Jan. 21<\/a> that Aiyuk\u2019s future guarantees have been voided. Even so, releasing Aiyuk this offseason would still leave San Francisco carrying nearly $30 million in dead money on the salary cap.<\/p>\n Waiting until after June 1 presents another path. Doing so would spread the dead cap hit to $13.325 million in 2026 and $21.247 million in 2027. Those same figures would apply in a trade, although any deal would need to happen after Aiyuk remains on the roster through the summer, since trades cannot be designated post-June 1.<\/p>\n Amid the looming split between the Niners and Aiyuk, former Dallas Cowboys<\/a> wideout Michael Irvin didn\u2019t hold back on the 49ers wide receiver for how he handled the situation. <\/p>\n \u201cBrandon Aiyuk and all of these guys \u2014 I\u2019m like, \u2018Why are you trying to get out of here?\u2019 Like, what kind of dummy are you? Why would you try to leave? I don\u2019t understand that,\u201d Irvin said during a Feb. 5 appearance on 95.7 The Game<\/a>. <\/p>\n \u201cWhen I used to talk to Deebo [Samuel] in the first time around when they were having issues, I was like, \u2018Deebo, don\u2019t leave Kyle.\u2019 Why would you want to leave him? I don\u2019t know, man. I would stay with Kyle as long as I can stay with Kyle, because he\u2019s just phenomenal.\u201d<\/p>\n Does Brandon Aiyuk Want to Play Football Amid Looming 49ers Exit<\/p>\n The future of Aiyuk remains uncertain as to where he lands and continues his career, but it will be interesting to see which team decides to take a chance on him. Even so, On SI\u2019s 49ers beat reporter Grant Cohn has raised doubts about whether Aiyuk truly wants to keep playing football at this point.<\/p>\n \u201cPeople keep saying\u00a0Brandon Aiyuk\u00a0quit on the 49ers this year, and\u00a0he did,\u201d\u00a0Cohn said in a video published on Jan. 23 on his YouTube channel<\/a>. \u201cBut doesn\u2019t it seem like he also quit football entirely forever? I mean, isn\u2019t he moving like a guy who doesn\u2019t really expect to play another snap in his career?<\/p>\n \u201cIs he trying to endear himself to other teams when he posts videos speeding past Levi\u2019s Stadium? Who would want him at this point after everything that\u2019s transpired?\u201d<\/p>\n Will There Be Suitors for Brandon Aiyuk?<\/p>\n Cohn also pointed out that options for Aiyuk could be narrowing. He thinks the Washington Commanders<\/a> and Pittsburgh Steelers<\/a>, two teams previously linked to him, may no longer be interested.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Commanders already have\u00a0Deebo Samuel<\/a>\u00a0and have filled that spot,\u201d Cohn added. \u201cPittsburgh, Mike Tomlin isn\u2019t there anymore. Those were the two places that Brandon Aiyuk seemed like he wanted to play instead of the 49ers. So, those aren\u2019t options. Seems to me like he\u2019s moving like a guy who has $50 million and doesn\u2019t want to play football anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tEduardo Razo<\/a> Eduardo Razo is a sports writer for Heavy.com, covering the NFL, MLB, and college football. He has previously covered the NFL, NBA, NHL, and MLB for NBC Sports Washington and NBC Sports Bay Area & California, and has freelanced for PSG Talk, covering Paris Saint-Germain. He also worked as an editor at Athlon Sports, focusing on MLB and the NFL. More about Eduardo Razo<\/a>\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tMore Heavy on 49ers\n\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\tLoading more stories\n\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Getty (Photo by Stephen Maturen\/Getty Images) Brandon Aiyuk\u2019s time with the San Francisco 49ers appears to be nearing…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":733056,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2080],"tags":[220,7,6,1161,252,2624,2623],"class_list":{"0":"post-733055","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-francisco-49ers","8":"tag-49ers","9":"tag-football","10":"tag-nfl","11":"tag-san-francisco","12":"tag-san-francisco-49ers","13":"tag-sanfrancisco","14":"tag-sanfrancisco49ers"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116022888374653082","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/733055","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=733055"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/733055\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/733056"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=733055"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=733055"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=733055"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}