Brandon Aiyuk requested to meet with San Francisco 49ers general manager John Lynch and head coach Kyle Shanahan to discuss contract negotiations that have clearly left the All-Pro wide receiver very frustrated.
If that Monday meeting improved Aiyuk's feelings about the situation, he isn't showing it.
In fact, his latest social media activity suggests that, if anything, he has grown more annoyed.
Aiyuk on Tuesday responded to a post on X (formerly Twitter) that aggregated a report from ESPN's Adam Schefter.
Schefter reported the 49ers discussed a trade of Aiyuk with the Washington Commanders before this year's draft. Those talks came to nothing, with the Commanders deciding against the idea.
"Well listen, he played with Jayden Daniels [at Arizona State]. I'm sure the two would love to get together," Schefter said about Aiyuk on 'NFL Live'.
"There were some conversations at one point between the 49ers and the Commanders. The Commanders were interested, but they decided not to do that deal."
That report understandably served as interesting news to Aiyuk, who wrote in response to that post: "But I thought the Niners was never tryna trade me?"
Lynch has insisted throughout the process that the 49ers have no desire to move on from Aiyuk. In their press conference after the second day of the draft, he stressed that the Niners did not consider any offers for Aiyuk after the first round came to an end.
"We didn't entertain any of that today," Lynch said back in April. "We’re happy with our wide receiver group."
That the 49ers were involved in discussions about an Aiyuk trade around the draft is not new information, The San Francisco Chronicle's Mike Silver (h/t 49ers Webzone) reported that they had contacted at least one team prior to the draft to gauge interest in their leading receiver from the last two seasons.
That the 49ers were involved in talks with the Commanders, who picked Aiyuk's close friend Daniels second overall and have San Francisco's former assistant GM Adam Peters running their front office, is an intriguing nugget that is unlikely to quiet talk of them being a potential destination if the Niners cannot come to terms with the 2020 first-round pick on a long-term deal.
Still, the reality is that, once the draft passed, the odds of Aiyuk being traded diminished dramatically, given the 49ers would have ideally preferred to recoup an asset that could help them in 2024. With Aiyuk set to play on his fifth-year option as it stands and with the franchise tag next year in their back pocket, the 49ers still hold most of the cards and are under no pressure to deal him.
But Schefter's report hardly helps the 49ers convince Aiyuk, who recently claimed to Daniels that he was not wanted by San Francisco and is said to have taken negotiations personally, that he is valued highly by the team.
The odds are that the 49ers will get a deal done with Aiyuk eventually, but his latest expression of dissatisfaction re-illustrates that they likely still have a lot of work to do to find a positive resolution to this protracted saga.
