Richard Sherman Explains the Best Case Scenario for Brandon Aiyuk and 49ers as Trade Talks Intensify
· Yahoo Sports
One of the strangest narratives to come out of the entire 2025 NFL season proved to be the perceived breakup between Brandon Aiyuk and the San Francisco 49ers. Complete with locker room drama, ignored phone calls, and a high-speed video of the wide receiver flying past Levi Stadium in his luxury sports car, it was easily the most befuddling saga to involve the San Francisco 49ers in recent memory.
As a result, both fans and analysts alike have been operating under the assumption that the 2025 season would be Aiyuk’s final one with the franchise, but the franchise continues to hold on. According to Richard Sherman, however, that isn’t without reason either.
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“I see a lot of people commenting that the 49ers are holding him hostage and it’s unfair and they’re doing wrong by him,” Sherman noted during his podcast. “I don’t think so. I think the opposite.”
Given the fact that Aiyuk is still in possession of the seventh most-valuable wide receiver contract in the entire NFL, as well the recency of both his injury and extracurricular activities, the former Seattle Seahawk doesn’t believe that many teams would even be in demand for Aiyuk’s services. “What would Brandon Aiyuk fetch in free agency right now?” Richardson asked.
“If they cut him, his contract is torn up and somebody is gonna re-sign him for a one-year, prove-it kind of deal for 6, 7 or 8 million dollars a year, up to 12… If they trade him, his contract trades to whatever team he goes to. If I’m Brandon Aiyuk, I’d want to be in that situation where I’m being traded on the contract I already have. Would you rather be cut and have to convince a team you’re worth $30 million a year, or get traded under the contract you already signed?”
The 49ers’ recent acquisition of Mike Evans has only strengthened the idea that it’s merely a matter of time before Aiyuk is traded elsewhere. For Sherman specifically, a seventh-round draft pick would “work” in the “best business interests” of both Aiyuk and San Francisco, but as he just mentioned, that’ll all depend on whether or not the franchise would be able to move him on his current deal.
Seeing as it wasn’t long ago that Aiyuk was giving fans one of the most efficient wide receiving seasons in all of modern history; his downfall with the 49ers should be considered as nothing short of a crying shame. From his voided contract guarantees to the team’s win totals, everyone involved in the situation has lost something of value, and until this toxic relationship is tied off for good, it only figures to become even more costly as time goes on.
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