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Nick Wagoner
SANTA CLARA, Calif. — It’s no longer a question of if the San Francisco 49ers will move on from wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk. It’s when it will become official.
At Wednesday’s end-of-season news conference, Niners general manager John Lynch confirmed what has been obvious for months: Aiyuk will not return to the only NFL team he has ever known.
«I think it’s safe to say that he’s played his last snap with the Niners,» Lynch said. «It’s unfortunate. A situation that just went awry. And I will look long and hard at what could have been done differently, but sometimes it just doesn’t work out. And I think that this was a case where that happened.»
Lynch added that a transaction with Aiyuk — either a release or, more unlikely, a trade — would come in «due time.» That move will end one of the more tumultuous player-team standoffs in recent memory.
Jauan Jennings is scheduled to be an unrestricted free agent and second-year wideout Ricky Pearsall was limited to 10 games because of injuries in 2025.
As for why Aiyuk stopped communicating with the Niners, Lynch said «I wish I knew… can’t help you there.»
«You try as hard as you can to fix something that you don’t understand, but it’s not like we understand it very well still,» Shanahan said. «Eventually, you understand that it’s not going to change and you got to move on with your football team.»
