Tom Pelissero: 49ers WR Brandon Aiyuk’s IG Posts aren’t Helping His Cause

Who is advising Brandon Aiyuk these days? According to Tom Pelissero, the answer is nobody, and it shows.

"I think it's pretty obvious at this point Brandon Aiyuk has not gotten a lot of good advice, at least not any advice that he has taken," Pelissero said on the show. The NFL insider laid out a picture of a standoff between the receiver and the San Francisco 49ers that Aiyuk keeps making worse for himself, one Instagram post at a time.

Start with the facts that do not match the story. As of Pelissero's last check, Aiyuk's listed agent with the NFL Players Association was still Ryan Williams, the same agent who negotiated the massive contract Aiyuk signed in San Francisco. That runs directly against the claims coming out of Aiyuk's videos. "It's I fired my agent last fall. Well, not according to the union, which is where you need to terminate that," Pelissero said. Another claim, that Aiyuk won't report until the team releases him, runs into a wall of its own. "They're not going to release you until you show up to the facility."

The through line, Pelissero argued, is that Aiyuk is "living in a world of his own making." He described general manager John Lynch, a former player, stopping by Aiyuk's house only to be treated as an intruder. "He's your boss, and he's trying to come talk to you. He might be worried about you," Pelissero said. As for head coach Kyle Shanahan, Pelissero doubted he was anywhere near a phone worrying about the latest post. "He's not sitting there looking at the Instagram and going, boy, the 17th insult was the one to push this over the top."

The bottom line, in Pelissero's telling, is that the 49ers hold every card. "The 49ers don't need to have to do anything," he said. If they have not reversed course by now, a few uncomfortable questions in a press conference are not going to force their hand.

Then there is the money, or the lack of a market for it. Pelissero has watched all the videos, including the ones where Aiyuk laughs at money and throws it around his closet. His read was blunt. "He's not going to get any money. There's not a market for Brandon Aiyuk." At most, Pelissero said, a team brings him in at close to the minimum with some incentives and upside.

The complications run deeper than a contract dispute. Pelissero pointed to the health questions hanging over the whole thing. Aiyuk, he said, "basically tapped out in the late stages of his rehab last year, decided he didn't want to play for the 49ers," already frustrated after the organization stripped his guarantees. Nobody knows whether Aiyuk plays football again, or whether he is fully healthy.

So where does it go? Pelissero sees exactly one landing spot if Aiyuk ever gets cut loose. "I believe it's a one-team market for Brandon Aiyuk. It's the Washington Commanders." Even that comes with conditions. Aiyuk would have to pass a physical, meet the people in the building, and convince them he is worth the trouble rather than a babysitting project. Pelissero's guess is that Washington takes the flyer and brings him in. First, though, the steps have to start on Aiyuk's end, and so far every step has gone the other way.