{"id":2820,"date":"2026-06-22T22:37:37","date_gmt":"2026-06-22T22:37:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=2820"},"modified":"2026-06-22T22:37:37","modified_gmt":"2026-06-22T22:37:37","slug":"brandon-aiyuks-campaign-to-leave-49ers-continues","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=2820","title":{"rendered":"Brandon Aiyuk’s campaign to leave 49ers continues"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Brandon Aiyuk wants a new team, in case the 49ers are listening.<\/p>\n

The 49ers wide receiver shouted out the Washington Commanders in an Instagram Story video Sunday. The video featured Aiyuk repeatedly shouting, \u201cGo Commanders\u201d, adding a \u201cRaise Hail\u201d for the Washington fanbase. He also posted a photo of former Washington quarterback Mark Rypien with the Lombardi Trophy after winning Super Bowl XXVI.<\/p>\n

Read more Woman sentenced to prison for death of Kim Kardashian look-alike after cosmetic injection at Burlingame hotel<\/a><\/p>\n

Washington has long been rumored as a landing spot for the wideout who has not played for the Niners since tearing his ACL and MCL in 2024. Jayden McDaniels, his former Arizona State teammate, is the Commanders\u2019 quarterback.<\/p>\n

Aiyuk may be trying to pester the 49ers into trading or releasing him, which they will have to do by Sept. 1 if they don\u2019t want to pay his $25 million salary for the season. Coach Kyle Shanahan and general manager John Lynch signaled earlier this offseason they were ready to move on from Aiyuk, though owner Jed York held onto the possibility of a return \u2014 or tried to claw back a shred of trade leverage \u2014 at the owner\u2019s meetings in March.<\/p>\n

The 49ers then signed Mike Evans and Christian Kirk, and used their first draft pick on De\u2019Zhaun Stribling, further signaling an Aiyuk departure.<\/p>\n

Teammate George Kittle appears ready to put the whole Aiyuk saga in the past. In an appearance on the \u2018Pardon My Take\u2019 podcast Monday, he said he used to go watch Aiyuk train at the 49ers\u2019 facility before meetings.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019d always be out there early, and I watched him run over 22 miles an hour and watched him stop on a dime,\u201d Kittle recalled, before addressing the idea of Aiyuk joining another team such as Washington. \u201cHe\u2019s still got it, but that was eight months ago, so I don\u2019t really know. You guys have fun with that, I guess.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more Overnight full closures set for Highway 4 paving repairs<\/a><\/p>\n

The 49ers\u2019 troubles with Aiyuk began before the 2024 season, when contract negotiations between the sides included more social media posts seeking a trade. Those talks extended into training camp, when Aiyuk signed a four-year, $120 million extension.<\/p>\n

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Last summer, however, the 49ers voided the remaining guaranteed money in the deal, citing his failure to participate in rehab sessions for the knee injury. Relations deteriorated from there and the team eventually put Aiyuk on the reserve\/left team list in December.<\/p>\n

A week after going on the reserve list, Aiyuk posted a video to YouTube of himself driving past Levi\u2019s Stadium at triple-digit speeds. Earlier this month, the Santa Clara County District Attorney\u2019s Office confirmed it had issued an arrest warrant in February for Aiyuk over the misdemeanor speeding incident.<\/p>\n

Two weeks ago, Aiyuk made more social media noise, calling the 49ers \u201cdumb\u201d for their contract machinations with him, saying they are mad at themselves.<\/p>\n

Read more Kurtenbach: My official Warriors draft guide? Get weird, Mike Dunleavy<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Teammate George Kittle appears ready to put the whole Aiyuk saga in the past.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2819,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2820","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports"],"yoast_head":"\nBrandon Aiyuk’s campaign to leave 49ers continues - Next City Digest<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=2820\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Brandon Aiyuk’s campaign to leave 49ers continues - Next City Digest\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Teammate George Kittle appears ready to put the whole Aiyuk saga in the past.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=2820\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Next City Digest\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-06-22T22:37:37+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=2820#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=2820\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/13065d40d633843429ac57d4e5c06f9b\"},\"headline\":\"Brandon Aiyuk’s campaign to leave 49ers continues\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-22T22:37:37+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=2820\"},\"wordCount\":510,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=2820#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/562c57537d2f4638eaa448ae8181b57d.webp\",\"articleSection\":[\"Sports\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=2820#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=2820\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=2820\",\"name\":\"Brandon Aiyuk’s campaign to leave 49ers continues - 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