Two days after deleting a pair of Instagram videos that criticized the 49ers for not releasing him, receiver Brandon Aiyuk is back on social media.
In his new video, he’s dancing. While wearing a robe and boxer shorts.
The caption says “coming to a endzone near [you].”
Combined with his decision to extend an olive branch by deleting the videos, it’s hard not to wonder whether the 49ers have decided to abandon the effort to trade Aiyuk and to cut the cord in the coming days. That would avoid the awkward dance of Aiyuk showing up to training camp and forcing his release.
The 49ers have proven their point. By refusing to release Aiyuk and holding out hope for a trade, they’ve wiped out his ability to get up to speed through his new team’s offseason program. At some point, rubbing Aiyuk’s nose in it takes the team’s eye off the bigger prize.
They need to just fold the tents, like they did when they admitted their mistake with quarterback Trey Lance. Focus on the positives, move on from the negatives.
And ensure that Aiyuk won’t be one of the hot topics when the team gathers for practices in the electromagnetic hot zone.
The new Patrick Mahomes contract covers eight seasons and averages, from signing, a payout of $63.093 million per year. That pushes the market to unprecedented heights. And it brings into focus the next wave of quarterback deals.
So let’s take a look at the quarterbacks who’ll use the Mahomes contract as a key data point for ongoing or upcoming negotiations.
Lamar Jackson, Ravens.
Jackson has wanted a new deal for more than a year. His current contract averaged $52.5 million per year from signing. At the time it was finalized, he was the highest paid player in the league. He has now slid down to the bottom of the top 10. Mahomes getting to $63.09 million, especially while still recovering from a torn ACL, will only strengthen Lamar’s resolve.
Jackson currently has $104 million remaining on his current contract, over the next two years. With a no-tag clause, he can kick the can through the next two seasons and become an unrestricted free agent. It gives him significant leverage, and Mahomes’s contract likely nudges Lamar’s reasonable expectations from at least $60.1 million per year (based on Dak Prescott’s latest deal) to at least $63.1 million annually.
Joe Burrow, Bengals.
In 2023, after his first three NFL seasons, Burrow agreed to a seven-year deal with an average from signing of $44.28 million per year and a new-money average of $55 million. He has four years left with a total payout of $163.539 million, an average of $40.88 million.
His recent restructuring was a cap-creation device, with no new money. The Bengals, who are extremely careful with money, may not be inclined to tear up the current deal and replace it with a new contract.
For his part, Burrow may not be inclined to extend his commitment to the team. His discontent after three straight non-playoff seasons has become more obvious. As he enters his seventh season in Cincinnati, Burrow could be thinking about reaching the same conclusion Carson Palmer did after his eighth.
Baker Mayfield, Buccaneers.
He has said talks on a deal that would extend his $33.3 million per year contract are nowhere close to where he thought they’d be. The Buccaneers could tag him in 2027, or they could let him hit the open market.
Some think the Bucs wouldn’t use the franchise tag; with a 2026 cap number of $39.975 million, Mayfield’s 2027 franchise tender would be at least $47.97 million. There’s a sense in some circles that the Bucs believe they’ll ultimately offer him more than anyone would in free agency, if a new deal isn’t done before Mayfield’s self-imposed deadline of the start of training camp.
C.J. Stroud.
The Texans repeatedly have proclaimed that he’s their guy. But they have yet to do for him what they’d done for cornerback Derek Stingley Jr. and defensive end Will Anderson — sign the first-round pick to a new deal before his fourth season.
The challenge at this point comes from putting a number on his second contract. There’s a broad range when it comes to veteran quarterback pay. Where would Stroud fit?
Currently, the number would be lower than it could be for Stroud, if he has a strong fourth season. Since the Texans realize that, at this point, they’d be only bidding against themselves, there’s no reason to rush the process.
Caleb Williams, Bears.
The first overall pick in the 2024 draft becomes eligible for a new deal after the 2026 regular season. And Williams has been very focused on the business realities of the NFL, from even before he was drafted.
When the time comes for Williams to get a new deal, the Mahomes number will drive the discussion. Especially if Williams continues to be on a trajectory that could put him among the top four or five quarterbacks in football.
We’ve already heard talk of Williams having expectations that would be more than eye-popping. And we also expect that Williams will make it known that he wants his contract not after the 2026 postseason ends, but promptly upon the opening of the window for a new deal after the Bears face the Vikings in Week 18.
Why carry the injury risk into the 2026 postseason? No quarterback on his rookie deal has tried to do that, even though the CBA wrinkle has been hiding in plain sight since 2011.
Jayden Daniels, Commanders.
Like Williams, Daniels becomes eligible for a new deal after the 2026 regular season. His main goal should be to reestablish himself after a disappointing and injury-plagued second season, during which he played only seven of 17 games.
If Daniels returns to his rookie form, he’ll be joining Williams as a quarterback looking for a second contract.
Drake Maye, Patriots.
The player who finished second in the MVP voting to cap his second season also has his window open after the 2026 regular season. And the Patriots will be hoping that, like Tom Brady before him, Maye will be less inclined to break the bank and more inclined to ensure that there will be cap space to have a quality team around him.
Brady, who entered the league as the 199th overall pick, had naturally lower expectations early in his career. Maye, the third overall pick who was denied the commensurate reward due to the rookie wage scale, may not be as charitable as Brady was.
Bo Nix, Broncos.
Nix’s window likewise opens after the 2026 regular season. He’ll need to show he has fully recovered from the foot injury suffered late in the AFC playoff win over the Bills. And he’ll need to do even more in Sean Payton’s offense to unlock a major deal.
Regardless, there’s a new high bar — and his contemporaries from the 2024 draft could add more data points.
That raises another question, as to Williams, Daniels, Maye, and Nix. Who goes first? There will be a competition among the agents to emerge with the best deal. This could prompt some of them to wait until the others jump in the pool first.
Sam Darnold, Seahawks.
Darnold’s three-year, $100.5 million contract from 2025 was structured to give the Seahawks an escape hatch after one year. It wasn’t structured to force the team back to the table if Darnold leads the team to a Super Bowl win.
With $27.5 million in base pay and up to $5 million in available incentives, Darnold would be justified to seek a new deal. The Seahawks may want to wait until 2027.
Regardless, Mahomes’s new contract will be a factor, whenever it’s time to sit down and work out a new contract.
49ers receiver Brandon Aiyuk was back at it on social media on Tuesday, two days after posting a video in which he told his team to “stop running from the belt.”
In a new Instagram video, Aiyuk said the 49ers are upset because they screwed up by giving him a four-year, $120 million extension in August 2024.
“And another thing. You wanna know why they really mad, though? They mad ‘cause they stupid. They dumb. They mad that they paid me $50 million in eight months, and they [voided] my guarantees for [2026]. And I’m about to be on a new team in [2026].
“They mad at they selves, for real. They just acting like they mad at me but they stupid-ass mad at they selves.”
Aiyuk continues to be under contract with the 49ers. If he had shown up during the voluntary offseason program and insisted on practicing, they may have cut him. As it stands, he needs to be ready to report for training camp.
If/when he does, the 49ers will have to decide whether to trade him, cut him (with a reduced deal), or let him practice — and risk owing him more than $26 million if he suffers a season-ending injury in the building.
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 Jets added a wide receiver to their roster on Thursday.
They announced the signing of Gee Scott. There was no corresponding move needed to clear space for Scott as the Jets waived wideout Da’Quan Felton on Wednesday.
Scott entered the league as an undrafted free agent in 2025 and signed with the Patriots. He spent time on their practice squad and on Washington’s before the Commanders released him earlier this year.
Scott played 51 games at Ohio State and saw most of his time as a tight end while with the Buckeyes. He was a teammate of Jets wideout Garrett Wilson for a couple of seasons and finished his college time with 47 catches for 393 yards and four touchdowns.
