49ers urged to finally end Brandon Aiyuk saga with two possible solutions

49ers urged to finally end Brandon Aiyuk saga with two possible solutions originally appeared on The Sporting News.
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The San Francisco 49ers, since mid-season during the 2025 season, have known that Brandon Aiyuk won’t be a part of this team in 2026.

But, as the 2026 offseason began, he stayed on the roster through all of free agency, the draft, and now the pivotal June 1 date that impacts salary cap implications. Despite all of those dates passing, Aiyuk is still on the roster.

ESPN’s Aaron Schatz is urging the 49ers to finally end this saga by using one of two potential solutions to this exhausting dilemma.

49ers urged to finally end Brandon Aiyuk drama

“Clean up the situation with wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk,” Schatz writes. “… The Niners can put Aiyuk on various bureaucratic lists (did not report list, non-football injury list, etc.) to keep him off the field. Or he can force their hand by showing up for training camp and passing a physical. Somehow, this situation does need to end.”

The 49ers have been holding onto Aiyuk in hopes of finding a trade partner, but at this rate, it’s hard to imagine any team, even the heavily linked Washington Commanders, offering the 49ers anything in exchange for Aiyuk.

While the 49ers. could place Aiyuk on the non-football injury list, or some other list, it won’t resolve the core issue of Aiyuk still being on the 49ers roster.

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Aiyuk could show up to training camp and get a physical and prove he’s healthy, but it’s hard to imagine that being the outcome, considering all that Aiyuk’s done since this drama began last season.

The simplest resolution here is to just cut Aiyuk before the season, and waiting until the team gets closer to the beginning of the year is not going to do the 49ers any favors.

A trade of Aiyuk is close to impossible, and the most likely outcome is the 49ers simply releasing him.

Instead of keeping him under contract, Kyle Shanahan and John Lynch should end this saga, cut ties with Aiyuk, and not worry about any more headaches with the former star WR.

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