The San Francisco 49ers’ 2025 offseason wasn’t one of the most celebrated, but it was crucial for the franchise’s financial health moving forward and stood out for one major reason: the lack of drama. Between contract extensions and a quiet free agency, fans enjoyed a rare, chaos-free offseason.
However, one key figure doesn’t seem to share that same peace — Brandon Aiyuk. The headline name of the 2024 offseason, whose contract saga dragged on until the final week before the season, appears to remain dissatisfied, posting cryptic messages once again. A team insider even criticized his attitude, labeling his behavior as toxic and immature.
Brandon Aiyuk’s Behavior is Everything the 49ers Worked To Avoid This Offseason
John Lynch and Kyle Shanahan approached this offseason with a “step back to leap forward” mentality. Veterans were let go, and the front office prioritized securing the team’s core; before training camp even began, George Kittle, Brock Purdy, and Fred Warner had all received contract extensions.
In previous offseasons, the tone was different. San Francisco dealt with at least one major drama in each of the last three years — Deebo Samuel’s trade request and cryptic posts in 2022, Nick Bosa’s holdout until days before kickoff in 2023, and Aiyuk practically begging to leave in 2024.
What ties all these situations together is that they happened right after each player’s best season with the team, raising questions about the front office’s ability to keep its stars happy. And while 2025 had been drama-free so far, that changed when Aiyuk once again took the spotlight.
The wide receiver posted an image of Terrell Owens, referencing a 2005 incident when the star clashed with the Philadelphia Eagles’ staff, was suspended by the team, played just seven games, and ultimately forced a trade.
49ers WR Brandon Aiyuk posted this photo on his Instagram story.
For those who don’t know this story: In August of 2005, as Terrell Owens was looking for a new contract, Andy Reid suspended him after the two got into an argument at Eagles training camp.
That same day, TO then… pic.twitter.com/PBqNRNaeio
— Chase Senior (@Chase_Senior) June 3, 2025
Insider Chase Senior weighed in on the situation and criticized Aiyuk’s behavior, saying the wide receiver wants to be the center of attention and currently stands out — in a negative way — from the overall atmosphere within the franchise.
“All of the talk out of the 49ers facility, from Kyle Shanahan and players has been ‘Oh man, great vibes, we’re happy to be back, good positive energy can be felt in this building, we are recharged coming off of last years’ disappointing campaign.’ Brandon Aiyuk is the only dark cloud on this ball club right now,” Senior said. “Brandon Aiyuk says ‘You know what? I want people to talk about me. I want to stir up some controversy.”
THIS IS WHY the Brandon Aiyuk Instagram story is a big deal 👇🏻
This offseason, the 49ers have remodeled the team, they’ve rebuilt the defense and coaching staff. They PAID Brock Purdy, George Kittle and Fred Warner.
For the first time in YEARS, they don’t have to worry about… pic.twitter.com/sdJeW8IP92
— Chase Senior (@Chase_Senior) June 4, 2025
In addition, Aiyuk posted another cryptic message on his YouTube channel, saying, “They wanna play cool now. Nah, I want the smoke still.”
#49ers Brandon Aiyuk also recently posted this on his YouTube account 👀 pic.twitter.com/K5VS0HarFA
— OurSF49ers (@OurSf49ers) June 3, 2025
These actions raise the question of whether the 49ers made the right call in extending his contract, a deal that made him the seventh-highest-paid wide receiver in the NFL in terms of average annual value, at $30 million per year. Since signing the extension, Aiyuk had been in the midst of his worst stretch in years before suffering an injury against the Kansas City Chiefs that sidelined him for the remainder of the season after just seven games.
In 2025, the atmosphere in San Francisco seems to be one of renewal — something that became a necessity after the disappointments of recent years. And if Aiyuk continues to stand apart from the rest of the team, it wouldn’t be out of the question to consider a trade before the deadline in November.
