GM Lynch says WR Brandon Aiyuk has played last snap for 49ers - ESPN

SANTA CLARA, Calif. — It's no longer a question of if the San Francisco 49ers will move on from wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk. It's when it will become official.

At Wednesday's end-of-season news conference, Niners general manager John Lynch confirmed what has been obvious for months: Aiyuk will not return to the only NFL team he has ever known.

«I think it's safe to say that he's played his last snap with the Niners,» Lynch said. «It's unfortunate. A situation that just went awry. And I will look long and hard at what could have been done differently, but sometimes it just doesn't work out. And I think that this was a case where that happened.»

Lynch added that a transaction with Aiyuk — either a release or, more unlikely, a trade — would come in «due time.» That move will end one of the more tumultuous player-team standoffs in recent memory.

After an extended contract stalemate in the summer of 2024, the 49ers and Aiyuk reached agreement on a four-year, $120 million extension with $76 million in guarantees on Aug. 29, 2024. Any hope that the accord would get the Niners and Aiyuk on the same page quickly dissipated publicly on Sept. 27, 2024, when Aiyuk and coach Kyle Shanahan had an awkward exchange on the practice field because Aiyuk was wearing red shorts while the rest of the team was in the required black ones.

It didn't help that Aiyuk, who did not participate in that summer's training camp, struggled on the field. He averaged 58.5 receiving yards per game with no touchdowns in the first six games of that season before he tore the ACL, MCL and meniscus in his right knee on Oct. 20, ending his season.

Multiple sources told ESPN that the Niners had hoped to trade Aiyuk last offseason, but the injury ended any