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SANTA CLARA, Calif. — In the days after the San Francisco 49ers’ 2025 season ended, general manager John Lynch made it clear that the team would be parting ways with wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk at some point this offseason.
At the NFL combine a month later, Lynch said the team was waiting for the new league year in March to make that transaction official at some point thereafter.
Then, at last week's league meetings in Phoenix, coach Kyle Shanahan echoed that sentiment, but clarified that the move wouldn’t be done quickly unless someone made an acceptable trade offer.
"I don't have a date for it," Shanahan said. "But I know eventually it'll resolve itself. Hopefully, we could get something for [him]. And I know we're in no rush to do that."
In what is becoming one of the longest divorce proceedings in recent NFL memory, the Niners are clinging to hope that they can get anything for a player who hasn’t played since Oct. 20, 2024 (when he tore the ACL, MCL and meniscus in his right knee) and hasn’t been in contact with the team since late November.
Despite Shanahan and Lynch's words about Aiyuk moving on, Niners owner Jed York added a new wrinkle last week by indicating there's at least a long shot possibility Aiyuk could stay with the team in 2026.
"I think anything is possible, right?" York said. "We want to make sure that we have as talented of a roster as possible. First and foremost, he needs to get healthy and be able to perform. I think once that happens, he's a really, really good football player."
Here's a deeper look at where things stand with Aiyuk, the chances of a trade and whether it's actually possible he will stay in San Francisco.
How long will the 49ers keep Aiyuk?
For now, the only deadline is Sept. 1 when Aiyuk has a $24.935 million option bonus due. The 49ers would prefer to move on from Aiyuk long before then but that date being so far out at least gives them flexibility.
The Niners don't need the minimal 2026 cap space that releasing Aiyuk would create so they're incentivized to hold on to him in case a team wants to make a trade offer.
While Shanahan and York's comments seemed to hint at different things on the surface, they both effectively served to let the league know that if they want to acquire Aiyuk, evaluate his health and get him acclimated during the offseason program, they'd have to do something soon.
"You've got to do what's right for the Niners and you're not trying to hook up any other team as fast as you possibly can," Shanahan said.
Team and league sources have indicated that the Washington Commanders are the most likely landing spot for Aiyuk when he does move on. Commanders general manager Adam Peters was in San Francisco’s personnel department when it drafted Aiyuk. More important, Aiyuk is close friends with Washington quarterback Jayden Daniels from their shared time at Arizona State and Aiyuk has been open about his desire to play with Daniels in the past. If anyone can offer some insight into how Aiyuk is doing, it’s probably Daniels.
Shanahan and Peters dined together at the league meetings in Phoenix, but it remains to be seen whether the Commanders would be willing to give up something for Aiyuk rather than wait to see if he's released when they could sign him without giving up compensation.
For now, the 49ers seem content to wait and see if any team is willing to give them something for Aiyuk.
How do the financials play into attempts to trade Aiyuk?
For 2026, Aiyuk's base salary is just $1.215 million, a relative bargain all things considered. But that option bonus complicates things for any team that would look to acquire him.
If the bonus gets exercised, the team employing Aiyuk would have to prorate it through 2030, effectively adding potentially significant dead money to their cap if Aiyuk doesn't produce. That bonus also isn't guaranteed after the Niners voided Aiyuk’s remaining guarantees last July when he didn’t participate in mandatory rehab sessions for his injured right knee.
But if that option bonus isn't exercised, an acquiring team would be on the hook for all of it at once, driving his salary for 2026 to more than $26 million. Combine that with base salaries that inflate to $27.274 million in 2027 and $29.15 million in 2028 and it's hard to envision any team wanting to pay Aiyuk that much, especially with the uncertainty surrounding him coming off the injury and how things in San Francisco have played out.
Any team wanting to acquire Aiyuk would almost certainly want to rework his deal, something that could prove challenging since that would give Aiyuk agency in where he ultimately lands.
If the 49ers do release Aiyuk before June 1, the plan is to do it with a post-June 1 designation. That would mean the nearly $30 million in dead money they must take on the salary cap would be split up into $13.325 million in 2026 and $21.247 million in 2027.
Those same numbers also apply to a trade, though it should be noted that trades cannot be given the post-June 1 designation, so if the Niners wanted to split up the money and trade Aiyuk, they'd have to wait until June.
Is it realistic to think someone will trade for Aiyuk and if so, what could the 49ers get?
Considering all the financial implications and the amount of unknowns about Aiyuk, it's still difficult to envision a team being willing to trade for him.
That's been the case so far, though perhaps it could change after the draft if a receiver-needy team comes out of it without the help it seeks at the position. What's more, it's hard to know what Aiyuk is thinking since he hasn't publicly addressed anything that's happened in San Francisco since he tore the ACL, MCL and meniscus in his knee in 2024.
As for what the Niners could get for Aiyuk, offers including picks in the first few rounds like they got before he signed his contract extension in 2024, have long since disappeared.
In situations like this, a late-round pick swap is often the solution, but the Niners can't really do that in this year's draft because they don't currently own any picks beyond the fourth round. That, again, points to any remote chance of a trade coming after the draft and perhaps well into the summer with minimal return including picks in 2027 and beyond.
Could the 49ers mend fences and keep Aiyuk?
It would be foolish to rule out anything when it comes to the NFL, especially with the 49ers. In 2022, the Niners and quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo very publicly said goodbye to each other in anticipation of an offseason trade before shoulder surgery ultimately kept him in San Francisco on a revamped contract. He started 10 games for the Niners that year after an awkward training camp in which he rehabbed on a side field.
That situation, of course, is vastly different than this one, despite York's words about a possible reconciliation and how the Niners' additions of veteran receivers Mike Evans and Christian Kirk could help Aiyuk reintegrate into the locker room.
"I think we're making sure that that room is what it needs to be," York said. "And if BA's a part of that room, we're going to be more talented, and I have no problem with that."
Of course, even if the Niners did reverse course and attempt to keep Aiyuk, there's no guarantee he'd even be open to such an arrangement.
All of which still points to Aiyuk and the Niners parting ways in the coming weeks or months as the questions of when and in what manner continue to loom.
