Brandon Aiyuk, a wide receiver with the San Francisco 49ers, contrasted his recent team-related action on Friday with his workout at the club facility.
Aiyuk unfollowed the 49ers on social media, according to Clayton Holloway of NFL Network. Although the team and the star wideout are still negotiating a deal, this latest action might signal an impending split.
Aiyuk, an All-Pro for the second team, has been pursuing a new deal rather than the franchise’s $14.1 million fifth-year option. During his incredible season, which saw him grab 75 passes for 1,342 yards and seven scores, Aiyuk assisted the 49ers in winning the Super Bowl.
Aiyuk stated, “I’m trying to get what I deserve,” on March 28 on the podcast “The NightCap.” “I think that during this football season, I came to terms with my identity as a player and a person, as well as what I offer to the field, the locker room, and the organisation. Additionally, the value I possess when I enter that building.
People are going to follow me since, ever since I entered that building, I have done everything correctly. Between the moment I walked in the door on the first day until this morning. I completed it correctly,” Aiyuk continued.
Trade rumours continued even after Aiyuk visited 49ers facilities, despite attempts by general manager John Lynch to quell the conversation. During an interview with NFL owners meeting on March 26, Lynch stated that they are “talking with his guys” and that there is no plan to deal Aiyuk.
Social media posts by Aiyuk’s fiancée Rochelle Searight and his former junior college teammate Draysean Hudson got his fans talking at the start of the offseason. In her Instagram video, Searight stated, “This might have been the last day we touched foot on Levi’s Stadium.” In his Instagram story, Hudson criticised the 49ers for Aiyuk’s meagre three catches during the Super Bowl, citing it as cause for their departure.
“That’s all it is if they can’t see the value in that” (walking motion with hands). There is nothing more to it than that. It eludes me. Aiyuk stated on “The NightCap” that “we have professionals working on both sides, so hopefully, we can come to a professional agreement and continue playing professional football.”
Social media posts by Aiyuk’s fiancée Rochelle Searight and his former junior college teammate Draysean Hudson got his fans talking at the start of the offseason. In her Instagram video, Searight stated, “This might have been the last day we touched foot on Levi’s Stadium.” In his Instagram story, Hudson criticised the 49ers for Aiyuk’s meagre three catches during the Super Bowl, citing it as cause for their departure.
“That’s all it is if they can’t see the value in that” (walking motion with hands). There is nothing more to it than that. It eludes me. Aiyuk stated on “The NightCap” that “we have professionals working on both sides, so hopefully, we can come to a professional agreement and continue playing professional football.”
Aiyuk, a player at Sierra College and native of Reno, Nevada, was named a Junior College All-American in 2017. The 49ers selected him with the 25th overall pick in 2020 after he played at Arizona State and was named to the first team of the Pac 12 in 2019.
As a rookie in 2020, Aiyuk emerged as a playmaker on offence, hauling in 60 passes for 748 yards and five touchdowns. 78 catches for 1,015 yards and eight touchdowns in 2022 and 56 receptions for 826 yards and five scores in 2021 were his next two seasons of success.
Aiyuk’s ability to create plays was advantageous to San Francisco, as he appeared in three consecutive NFC Championship Games and one Super Bowl. Prior to the Super Bowl, he had a spectacular postseason performance, catching eight passes for 68 yards and a touchdown in the Detroit Lions’ 34-31 comeback victory.
After a great start to his career, Aiyuk will cost the 49ers or another team approximately $24 million a year for the foreseeable future, according to Spotrac.
