nfl
Brandon Aiyuk meets with 49ers, seeks reinstatement after two-year rift
The wide receiver tore his ACL, MCL and meniscus in 2024, then stopped showing up after the 49ers voided $27 million in guarantees. He says he is healthy. Kyle Shanahan says he couldn't care less.
Brandon Aiyuk arrived at the San Francisco 49ers’ offices Friday with his agent Drew Rosenhaus, saying he is “back to 100% and looking to get reinstated” after a knee injury and a two-year rift with the team, ESPN reported.
“I’m feeling great, feeling healthy,” Aiyuk said in his first public comments since tearing the ACL, MCL and meniscus in his right knee against the Kansas City Chiefs on Oct. 20, 2024. “It was a long recovery process, a long rehab process, but I’m back to 100% and looking to get reinstated to the National Football League.”
The meeting lasted about an hour and 15 minutes. Coach Kyle Shanahan did not participate and said he could not “care less” about the outcome.
“It’s been over for our football team for a long time,” Shanahan said. “I look at this as zero to do with our football team. Anything that has zero to do with our football team, especially during the season, I will give zero thoughts to.”
What the coverage missed
ESPN’s report covers the meeting. It does not explain how the relationship got here.
Aiyuk was the 49ers’ first-round pick in 2020. He had 1,342 receiving yards in 2023 and was a key part of the team that reached the Super Bowl. He wanted a new contract. The 49ers gave him one in August 2024: four years, $120 million.
Six weeks later he tore three ligaments in his knee. The 49ers voided roughly $27 million in remaining guarantees in July 2025 because he missed rehab check-ins. Aiyuk stopped showing up. He landed on the reserve/left-team list in December. He did not report for the offseason program or training camp.
The 49ers are now seeking repayment of about $13 million in bonus money before they will reinstate him. The league informed Aiyuk this week that he needs to repay that money first. That is the obstacle.
If reinstated, the 49ers have three options: release him, trade him, or add him to the 53-man roster. General manager John Lynch said in January that Aiyuk played his last snaps for the team. The trade deadline is Tuesday. A trade partner has not been found. The most likely outcome is a release.
What I think
The 49ers do not want Aiyuk back. Shanahan said so in the clearest terms a coach can use without saying it directly. He was not in the meeting. He has not asked about it. He gives it zero thoughts.
Aiyuk wants to play. He hired Rosenhaus, filed for reinstatement, showed up to the facility, and made a statement to the media. He is doing everything a player can do to get back on a field. The problem is that the team he is contracted to does not want him, and the league requires him to repay $13 million before he can play for anyone else.
The likely ending is a release. The 49ers will let him go, he will clear waivers, and he will sign with a contender for the stretch run. The $13 million will be settled between lawyers. The 49ers will have paid a 1,000-yard receiver to not play for them for two seasons, and Aiyuk will have lost two years of his career to a contract dispute and a knee injury. Nobody wins.