Brandon Aiyuk is still under contract with the San Francisco 49ers, but John Lynch has stated that “it’s safe to say he’s played his last snap with the 49ers.” The 49ers voided $24.935 million in guaranteed money for the 2026 season after the receiver reportedly missed rehab appointments and team activities, and it was recently reported that the 49ers haven’t had any contact with Aiyuk as of late.
Aiyuk’s days in San Francisco certainly seem to be numbered, with the only question being whether the Niners will cut him or trade him to another team. On Wednesday, NFL insider Jordan Schultz weighed in and explained why a trade involving the 28-year-old All-Pro seems unlikely.
NFL Insider Questions Why Any Team Would Trade for 49ers WR Brandon Aiyuk
Across the 2022 and 2023 seasons, Aiyuk totaled 2,357 receiving yards and 15 touchdowns. According to PFSN’s WR Impact Score, he ranked as the fourth-best wideout in the league in 2023 with a 92.7 WRi score. That was his last fully healthy season, as injuries limited him to just seven games in 2024 and he didn’t play a single game in 2025.
Given his injuries and recent antics, NFL insider Jordan Schultz does not believe that a team will trade for Aiyuk.
“Everyone knows he’s not gonna be there, so why trade for him?” Schultz said on his Yahoo Sports podcast.
“He’s not in the building. They don’t really have to do anything right now, and it’s been like that for a while…” Schultz said. “He won’t be there next season and at some point, you have to assume that he’s probably [getting] released because everyone knows he’s not gonna be there, so why would you trade for him?”
“Everyone knows he’s not gonna be there, so why would you trade for him?” 😳@Schultz_Report says teams will bide their time until Brandon Aiyuk becomes available, but what will his market be?
(via Yahoo Sports Daily) pic.twitter.com/7A4201lPXc
— Yahoo Sports (@YahooSports) May 20, 2026
The 49ers still owe Aiyuk $85,124,000, according to Spotrac, which obviously complicates things. That’s a significant contract for a team to take back.
“There’s an obvious connection to Washington with Jayden Daniels,” Schultz noted, before explaining that Daniels and Aiyuk played together at Arizona State and maintain a close friendship to this day. However, Schultz pumped the brakes on those rumors.
“I’m still not convinced that that’s gonna happen either,” Schultz said. “We also don’t know what type of shape Brandon Aiyuk is in. … Until we see what shape he’s in and how motivated he is to play football, it’s hard to peg him to a destination. The only thing we know definitively is that he won’t be a 49er next season.”
Last offseason, Washington traded for another 49ers wideout in Deebo Samuel Sr. Last season, Samuel averaged a career-low 10.1 yards per reception, and he ranked as the No. 34 wide receiver in the PFSN’s NFL WR Impact metric. Samuel is still a free agent.
Meanwhile, Aiyuk’s conduct during this situation has drawn criticism. His personal coach, former Cincinnati Bengals Pro Bowler T.J. Houshmandzadeh has called out the receiver’s behavior and said that he’ll someday regret how he left San Francisco.
To support Schultz’s point, San Francisco currently lacks leverage. Other NFL teams recognize that the 49ers want to move on from Aiyuk and his salary, so it seems likely that teams will just wait for his release.
