Things just keep getting crazier and crazier between the San Francisco 49ers and wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk.
On Saturday, the 49ers announced they have placed Aiyuk on the reserve/left squad list ahead of their Week 15 game against the Tennessee Titans.
If you're wondering, yes, that means Aiyuk has left the team.
"The 49ers today put Brandon Aiyuk on the reserve/left squad list, which officially ends his 2025 season. The reserve/left squad list is usually applied to players who plan to retire or who have quit their team," The Athletic's Matt Barrows wrote.
So, as Barrows points out, Aiyuk either intends to retire or he's just quitting on the team completely. We would guess it's the latter since there have been reported problems between the two sides this year.
Aiyuk has been rehabbing from a significant knee injury suffered last season and has yet to play in a game in 2025. Updates on Aiyuk have been murky, with zero real evidence he was ever going to play this season.
Last month, The Athletic's Dianna Russini and Michael Silver reported that the Niners voided Aiyuk's contract guarantees for failing to attend meetings and other team activities.
"Aiyuk, sources say, 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 receiver’s lack of communication," the report stated.
"The 49ers, sources say, responded by voiding the guaranteed money in Aiyuk’s contract for 2026, asserting that the absences amounted to a failure to fulfill his contractual obligations," the report added.
The report also noted that Aiyuk did not plan to fight the voiding of his guarantees and the expectation is the two sides will part ways in 2026.
Head coach Kyle Shanahan confirmed that Aiyuk had his voids guaranteed, although he did push back on the reported reason behind that decision.
Regardless of the reason, it's now pretty much certain that Aiyuk is done in San Francisco.
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