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.
Veteran tight end Anthony Firkser has found a new team.
The Commanders announced that they have signed Firkser to their 90-man roster on Tuesday. They waived wide receiver Ja’Corey Brooks in a corresponding move.
Firkser had eight catches for 53 yards in seven games with the Lions last season. He also played two games for the Lions in 2023 and split the 2024 season between the Jets and the Chiefs. He had nine catches for 100 yards in 11 games for the Falcons in 2022.
Firkser spent his first four NFL seasons with the Titans and had 106 catches for 1,107 yards and five touchdowns.
Brooks signed with Washington as an undrafted free agent in 2025 and spent the season on the practice squad.
The Commanders have been seen as a landing spot for wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk since it became clear he would not be playing for the 49ers anymore, but Aiyuk remains on the roster for San Francisco.
Aiyuk has no guaranteed money left on his contract after the 49ers voided the remaining guarantees last year, so there’s no particular time pressure for the team to release him and the Commanders have not shown any willingness to give up assets to trade for him. One of the reasons the Commanders have been seen as a suitor is the presence of Aiyuk’s college teammate Jayden Daniels, but the quarterback said he doesn’t have any insight into how things will play out.
“I don’t know, I don’t have a sense on it,” Daniels said, via multiple reporters. “That is my brother and we have a personal relationship. His football future, that’s out of my control.”
Aiyuk has not played a game since Week 7 of the 2024 season and the absence of any sense of when things might be resolved with the 49ers makes it hard to expect to see him on the field for the Commanders or anyone else in the near future.
