The question of “when” Brandon Aiyuk plays again in the NFL has turned into an “if”.
The soon-to-be-former San Francisco 49ers wide receiver has been quiet over the last few days, but that hasn’t stopped speculation on what specifically will happen to him.
On his podcast, ESPN’s Adam Schefter dedicated a segment to what was going on with the wide receiver. Most of it is what we already know: Brandon Aiyuk still needs to apply for reinstatement and refuses to do so. Schefter mentioned he had talks with NFL front offices, and the question was consistent:
“Does this guy even want to play?” Schefter said. “I can’t answer that. Only Brandon Aiyuk can. But I can tell you that teams have raised that question.”
Aiyuk has been vocal about not wanting to apply for reinstatement, saying he will not be doing “any kind of business” with the 49ers. Unfortunately for him, until he does that (which Schefter noted requires a simple filing with the league), no team can reach out to him, nor can he sign with another team in the NFL.
But then that leads to the next issue. Should Aiyuk actually want to play, his actions over the last few months may have teams reluctant to take a chance on him. Based on his comments about the Commanders, it’s safe to assume they [the Commanders] are in the negative. Other teams have seen the theatrics and may not want any part of that with their franchises either.
“I honestly believe that he’s scared off teams like Washington,” Schefter said. “I think they are looking at these social media posts—repeated social media posts—where he is blasting the Niners, where he’s criticizing Jayden Daniels; they are saying, ‘Is this the kind of guy that we want to bring in right now and have as a part of our franchise?’
“And my guess, more often than not, would be ‘no.’”
But even if Aiyuk applies for reinstatement and gets some teams willing to take a flyer on him, it won’t be the money his original contract guaranteed. Not even close. In fact, he might be the one contacting teams to get a try-out, not the other way around. It’s been well documented that the 49ers can’t trade Aiyuk due to all that guaranteed money. Unfortunately, from Schefter’s point of view, the market won’t be booming for Brandon Aiyuk:
“That market right now—at best—is going to be soft.”
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