By admin 
George Kittle might have offered the best hint yet at the cause of the fractured relationship between Brandon Aiyuk and the 49ers.
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“Contract negotiations, those are always hard for anybody. And you just try to not be sensitive about it,” the All-Pro tight end said on an episode of “Chris Simms Unbuttoned” this week when asked about Aiyuk situation.
Aiyuk has been on a social media spree in recent months criticizing the 49ers and saying he’ll never play for them again after they voided the guarantees in his contract last summer while he was recovering from a major knee injury. The team said Aiyuk stopped showing up to the team’s facility for his rehab sessions before ultimately not playing a snap last season, a year removed from tearing his ACL and MCL in his right knee in October 2024.
Coach Kyle Shanahan and general manager John Lynch said Aiyuk stopped communicating with the team last summer despite being under contract. He remains with the team on the reserve/left squad list but won’t count against the team’s salary cap until he files for reinstatement to the NFL. At that point, the 49ers are expected to cut him.
Aiyuk, meanwhile, has vowed not step foot in the 49ers facility again. He recently bought a house near the Washington Commanders’ practice facility and has said repeatedly he plans to sign with them when he’s able to.
“I feel like the Niners have done a very good job throughout the entire process,” Kittle said. “(They) have tried. Kyle has tried. John has tried. Teammates have tried. And this is where we are.”
Aiyuk’s injury came weeks after he signed a landmark, four-year, $120 million contract following a lengthy hold-in at the team’s facility while he didn’t participate in the majority of training camp. The 49ers reportedly discussed trades with the Pittsburgh Steelers, Cleveland Browns and New England Patriots before Aiyuk decided to sign.
Kittle wouldn’t offer specific details about the fallout between Aiyuk and the team, but his mention of contract negotiations is notable. Kittle had a contentious contract standoff just before earning his first big pay day in 2020, when he signed a five-year, $75 million contract on Aug. 13, some two weeks into the start of that year’s training camp.
“But I will say, Richard Sherman gave me advice back in the day when I was going through my first contract negotiation,” Kittle said. “It was ‘(contract negotiations) are like braces. They hurt and they suck the entire time. And then once you get your braces off, and you get paid, you don’t even remember having them. It’s a great time.’ That’s kind of the mindset you have to have.
“If you get offended by something (and) you hold on to it, that’s kind of on you. But everybody goes through contract negotiations, and they’re all difficult.”
The timing of the relationship falling apart seemingly coincides with Aiyuk’s contract negotiations. And the 49ers have been known to hold a hard line in contract talks. Kittle’s agent once called the team’s first contract offer in 2020 the “Valentine’s Day Massacre.”
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Other star players like Nick Bosa, Trent Williams and Fred Warner have had drawn-out contract negotiations with the team.
All of which is to say: There’s a good chance Aiyuk became offended by the 49ers during negotiations for his contract that ended up averaging $30 million per season, near the top of the receiver market at the time. And as Kittle eluded, Aiyuk likely held on to those feelings.
Is a Deebo Samuel reunion coming?
There were easy connections to make when Deebo Samuel became a free agent in the spring after his contract with the Commanders expired.
Yes, the 49ers remain in the process of moving on from Aiyuk, and Samuel has already proven to be a good fit in Shanahan’s offense. There was logic to the 49ers replacing one big-name wideout with the other.
But bringing Samuel back at the start of training camp doesn’t line up. The team is invested in Mike Evans being the top option with Ricky Pearsall, rookie De’Zhaun Stribling and veteran Christian Kirk making up the top four. Samuel joining the mix means he would likely have to contribute on special teams if he didn’t earn one of the top three spots. That seems unlikely for the receiver who recently turned 30.
However, it shouldn’t disqualify Samuel from joining the 49ers at some point in 2026. His joining the team could parallel what happened with Kendrick Bourne last season, when he signed Sept. 9 after injuries popped in the season-opening win over the Seattle Seahawks.
San Francisco signed Bourne after Jauan Jennings suffered a shoulder injury, Kittle dealt with a hamstring strain that sidelined him five games and Demarcus Robinson was serving a three-game suspension after a DUI charge.
Which is to say that adding Samuel makes more sense for the 49ers if they deal with injuries that cause their top receivers to miss time once the regular season begins. He could still be productive. He scored six touchdowns with Washington last season while averaging 9.0 yards per touch. His only Pro-Bowl and All-Pro nods came in 2021 when he amassed 1,700 all-purpose yards and 14 touchdowns in 2021.
The 49ers will begin the season by traveling to Melbourne, Australia, to play the Los Angeles Rams on Sept. 10.
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