Brandon Aiyuk’s unusual standoff with the San Francisco 49ers has become one of the NFL’s biggest talking points. But it’s not just about football anymore. People are starting to worry about the man himself.
Steve Young brought it up at the American Century Championship. Former 49ers executive Ran Carthon mentioned it too on SiriusXM NFL Radio a couple of weeks back. The concern is out there, and it’s growing.
Mike Florio isn’t buying into the mental health narrative, though. On “Pro Football Talk,” he pushed back hard against the idea that Aiyuk’s recent behavior points to something deeper going on.
Mike Florio Urges Caution Over Brandon Aiyuk’s Mental Health Speculation
Florio acknowledged that people around the league have voiced concern, pointing to Young and Carthon by name. But he was blunt about where he stands on diagnosing someone from afar.
“I’m very uncomfortable making mental health diagnoses from what people do on social media,” Florio said, adding that when he looks at Aiyuk’s posts, they read as coherent, just poorly reasoned. In his words, Aiyuk “seems okay,” and what’s really going on is “nonsensical decision-making.”
Florio then walked through how that theory clicked into place for him. He said the real question wasn’t about Aiyuk’s state of mind, but about who exactly was in his ear. And the answer, it turned out, was nobody.
“It turned out no one was advising him because he had fired his agent months ago, even though he still was represented by the same agent via the NFLPA. That was taken care of,” Florio said. “It showed that he does know how to check a box and make something happen when it needs to happen.”
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Florio argues that the conversation isn’t about diagnosing Aiyuk. It’s about recognizing that a series of poor decisions may have been made without the benefit of trusted guidance or experienced representation.
And the timeline backs that up. Aiyuk fired his agent, Ryan Williams of Athletes First, back in November. But because he never sent the formal termination letter required by NFLPA regulations, Williams stayed on as his agent of record until late June.
For months, Aiyuk was essentially navigating one of the messiest contract disputes in recent memory without real representation.
That’s around the same time things started to unravel publicly. The Instagram rants calling 49ers management “creepy predators.” Blowing past Levi’s Stadium at reckless speeds. The clips of cash being tossed around a closet. All of it came during a stretch when nobody was really advising him.
Florio is not dismissing that Aiyuk’s behavior looks alarming from the outside; instead, he’s just drawing a line between erratic public behavior and an actual diagnosis, something he says he’s not qualified or comfortable making based on Instagram videos alone.
That assessment doesn’t make Aiyuk’s situation any less messy, though. He’s still not reinstated, still not talking to the 49ers, and he’s still sitting on a contract that’s frozen in place until he decides to do something about it.
