Brandon Aiyuk’s feud with the San Francisco 49ers is going to dominate every second of the Monday Night Football broadcast. It was reported Friday that Aiyuk had his 2026 guarantees voided due to behavior during his 2025 offseason rehabilitation. And right now, the ball is in Aiyuk’s court on whether he plays at all in 2025.
Fans may have been blindsided, but former 49ers cornerback Richard Sherman wasn’t.
On his podcast, Sherman said he saw this coming without pointing fingers:
“I had a little bit more inside information, so it’s not as shocking for me. It’s shocking that it’s going to play out this way because this scenario at this point in the season helps nobody. I’m not blaming any particular person; I’m not blaming BA [Brandon Aiyuk], I’m not blaming the 49ers, etc. but I think BA coming back and doing his best to play as well as he can helps the San Francisco 49ers and it helps Brandon Aiyuk. I think the position of Brandon Aiyuk not playing anymore this season and the San Francisco 49ers—that doesn’t help anybody. If BA doesn’t play this season and he gets cut at the end of the year, that does nothing to help anybody. I think if he doesn’t play, that’s the most likely scenario, but I just don’t understand why that would be the case. Why you would make the decision as a player? Everybody has their own reasons for doing things, but if you’re a player and you want out—I don’t agree with this, I don’t want to help this team—that’s understandable, but your interests are aligned unfortunately. You doing good, well, helps the team doing well. The team doing well and you doing well, helps everybody. It helps increase your value so that if you do want to go to another team, they’ll want to trade for you instead of you getting cut and your salary going away and then signing you to a much lower deal where you make a lot less money and it will take you a lot more time to make the same amount of money you would have made if you were able to just stay on the contract you’re on.
So, if you’re Brandon Aiyuk, and you’re like, “I don’t want to help this team,” OK. But, helping them helps you. So, going out there and being the best possible receiver you can be, being you are the receiver you were when the San Francisco 49ers paid you $30 million a year, only helps your case even if you want to go somewhere. Sitting out does not. Sitting out puts your pride before your pocket. And if you put your pride before your pocket, that’s something I cannot understand becasue it doesn’t help your family, it doesn’t help you, and it doesn’t help the point you’re trying to prove. That’s the point I don’t get. Hopefully he’s able to he get out there and play, and show what he can do and either continue with the San Francisco 49ers or get traded and be able to make the money that he deserves somewhere else. I always want the guys to make the money that they’ve earned and I never want to see a situation where a guy is giving money back.”
Everyone has an opinion, but the truth is, we still don’t have enough context to draw clean lines. The only things we know: the rehab timeline mattered, the 49ers had reached their limit, and Aiyuk immediately chose not to appeal — which raises real questions about why he’d leave $26 million on the table without a fight.
Sherman’s usually blunt about the team—good or bad—so if he thought one side deserved more blame, he’d say it. If he felt one side or the other was shouldering more blame, I’d have to think he’d say it here. He isn’t afraid to tell when a performance is unacceptable or when something is off. In these instances, having something to blame always may be “easier,” but at the end of the day, the entire situation is just screwed up; each side made choices, and it snowballed into a crummy situation where both sides may part ways.
Maybe. This is the 49ers we’re talking about; nothing is guaranteed, whether it’s departures or money.
About the Author: Insidethe49
