By canceling their mandatory minicamp, the 49ers avoided a potentially awkward moment with receiver Brandon Aiyuk.
Even if the team had excused Aiyuk, he could have insisted on attending and practicing. The 49ers would have had to decide whether to let him do it, or whether to release him.
Instead, by having no reason for Aiyuk to show up for the mandatory minicamp, the 49ers have preserved the ability to squat on Aiyuk’s contract. Which is what they have been doing, and what they apparently plan to keep doing.
Aiyuk has posted a message to his current team on Instagram.
“Stop running from the belt,” Aiyuk said in the video. “The belt coming. You scared. They scared. The truth is they scared. They know how I get. They gonna say, ‘Oh, yeah, B.A. did this, B.A. did that.’ You know that shit — ‘Allegedly. Allegedly.’ But what they not gonna say is ‘B.A. suck at football,’ because they know how I get.
“And they running from that belt that’s on the way. It’s inevitable. It’s coming. Stop running.”
The 49ers, frankly, are holding onto Aiyuk’s rights because they can. The relationship collapsed after Aiyuk suffered a torn ACL in Week 7 of the 2024 season, less than two weeks after signing a four-year, $120 million extension on the brink of the 49ers trading him to the Steelers.
Aiyuk later defaulted on the contract, allowing the team to void more than $26 million in guarantees for 2026. (Aiyuk didn’t challenge the move.) It gives the 49ers the ability to delay cutting Aiyuk until the eve of training camp — if he plans to show up. (Although his salary for 2026 wouldn’t become fully guaranteed as termination pay under the CBA unless and until he’s on the Week 1 roster, a season-ending injury during camp would entitle him to his pay.)
Instead, the 49ers have been holding out for a trade offer. With no one willing to inherit his current contract, Aiyuk would have to rework the deal in order to facilitate a trade.
The incentive for the Commanders (or another team) to do that came from the ability to get Aiyuk up to speed via the offseason program. With OTAs and mandatory minicamps ending soon, there’s less leverage for the 49ers in June and July.
They still have cards to play. If Aiyuk doesn’t report for camp, they can put him on the reserve/did not report list. They can keep him from signing with another team until he walks through the door and forces them to deal with him. In theory, his career would slip into limbo if he doesn’t show up.
In most circumstances like this, the team could be accused of playing dirty pool with the player. In the present case, the 49ers have good reason to be upset with Aiyuk, and to be unwilling to make a return to football with the Commanders or another team any easier for him.
Aiyuk’s best play is to show up for training camp and wait to be released. The 49ers’ best play is to do nothing until he does. When he does, the 49ers would be wise to release him before he suffers a new injury that would put them on the hook for another major financial obligation.
The NFL Players Association “strongly opposes” the proposed changes to the California workers’ compensation laws, which would limit the rights of professional athletes. The NFL teams headquartered in the state — the Rams, the Chargers, and the 49ers — support the bill.
Although neither the NFL nor any of the California-based teams have made a public statement in that regard, the sponsor of the bill (Senator Laura Richardson) has indicated in a summary of the proposed legislation that the NFL and the three California teams support it.
She also states that Major League Baseball (including the L.A. Dodgers, the San Francisco Giants, the San Diego Padres, and the Sacramento A’s), the NHL (including the L.A. Kings, the Anaheim Ducks, and the San Jose Sharks), the Premiere Lacrosse League, the Women’s Lacrosse League, Major League Soccer, and the ECHL support the bill.
Neither the NBA nor any of its California-based teams (the L.A. Lakers, the L.A. Clippers, and the Golden State Warriors) are identified by Richardson as supporting the bill.
The NFLPA has separately sent to players and certified agents an email regarding the potential impacts of the legislation.
The emails, obtained by PFT, explain that the bill “would greatly change how NFL players access benefits for career-related injuries, particularly cumulative trauma claims.”
The bill, per the NFLPA, “narrows the ability to file claims tied to long-term, career-related wear and tear — one of the primary avenues for players seeking coverage.” It also imposes "[t]ighter eligibility for California claims,” by redefining “what qualifies as a California-based team, limiting when and where players can bring claims in the state.”
The NFLPA contends that the bill shifts “liability away from clubs and increases the likelihood that players bear a greater share of injury-related medical costs,” and that it applies “a narrower set of circumstances . . . to a player’s final California team, reducing flexibility in pursuing benefits.”
The bill, per the NFLPA, also applies retroactively “to active and pending claims that have not yet been finalized, introducing risk for clients who have already filed or are in process.”
This is at least the third time an effort has commenced to change the California workers’ compensation laws to the detriment of professional athletes.
As to the NFL, the costs for workers’ compensation insurance are currently baked into the Collective Bargaining Agreement. And it’s possible that supporting the changes constitutes an effort by the NFL to circumvent the CBA.
In that regard, the union should perhaps push for a clear commitment in the next CBA that the NFL will not support any efforts to restrict players’ rights under the workers’ compensation laws in any states where the NFL does business.
Baker Mayfield’s take on his contract situation was the juiciest bit of information to come out of his first media session of the offseason, but he also had a chance to weigh in on a significant change to the team’s receiving corps.
Mike Evans left for the 49ers as a free agent and Mayfield said that there’s no way to sugarcoat that it is “disappointing to not have him back” for the 2026 season. Mayfield then pivoted to praising Chris Godwin’s leadership of a receiving corps and expressing confidence in a group that also includes Jalen McMillan, Emeka Egbuka, Tez Johnson, and third-round pick Ted Hurst.
“To also have J-Mac, Chris and Emeka really, really healthy right now, feeling good — to lead those guys and just to watch the steps from Year 1 to Year 2 when it comes to Meck and Tez and watching them help Ted Hurst out as well,” Mayfield said, via Jenna Laine of ESPN.com. “There’s a lot of weapons in that room. And so when you lose a guy like that, you got to have a lot of people fill those shoes, not just one person and we have that.”
If the Bucs don’t sign Mayfield to an extension ahead of the season, his performance with that group of wideouts will likely determine whether there’s an appetite for continuing the relationship in Tampa. If that appetite does not develop, the Bucs could be looking at another significant change next offseason.
Mac Jones had a strong run as the starting quarterback for the 49ers while Brock Purdy was injured last season, but there was no chance to cash in on that as a free agent this offseason.
Jones signed a two-year deal with the Niners as a free agent last year, which meant that a trade would be the only way for him to land a permanent starting position for the 2026 season. The 49ers expressed no interest in going that route from the first day of the offseason and Jones had to settle for a slight pay bump as part of a contract adjustment last month.
Some might see that as a missed opportunity, but Jones said on Thursday that he’d be on the street “if I was on a one-year deal and played like crap” so he’s got no regrets about his decision.
“Yeah, the one-year versus two-year thing is definitely a legit question, but it’ll all work out how it’s supposed to. . . . Whenever I’m needed, that’s my job, is to support Brock,” Jones said, via 49ersWebzone.com. “It’s his team, and he played very well towards the end of the year, and I feel like it was just a lot of fun. We want to continue that — the good vibes in there — and I’m looking forward to trying not to focus on the future, just focus on now.”
Last year’s toe issue was not Purdy’s first serious injury, so Jones could have another chance to impress the rest of the league this season. If not, he’ll have to hope memories are long enough to put him into consideration for starting jobs in 2027.
In 2024, 49ers receiver Mike Evans set a record in Tampa by becoming the first player with 11 straight 1,000-yard receiving seasons to start a career. That also tied the all-time record for consecutive 1,000-yard receiving seasons, with Jerry Rice.
Injuries kept Evans from breaking the record in his twelfth and final season with the Buccaneers.
“Oh, it was super disappointing,” Evans told reporters on Thursday, via JoeBucsFan.com. “I’m extremely competitive and for me to not break that record, I thought I was going to be able to break it easy — how hungry I was going into that season.”
Injuries limited him to eight games in 2025 and 382 receiving yards. He could, in theory, still catch or pass Rice’s all-time record of 14 career 1,000-yard seasons.
“You know, in life, some things, it’s not going to go your way,” Evans said. “But I look at that injury as a blessing in disguise, because I’m feeling really fresh, feeling rejuvenated. I’m in a new spot, new change like I felt I needed. And I’m looking forward to get back.”
A first-round pick in 2014, Evans turns 33 in August. The question moving forward will be whether he can continue to perform at a high level, and ultimately for how long.
