Brandon Aiyuk appears to call out 49ers in cryptic video. ‘Stop running from the belt’
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Brandon Aiyuk posted a cryptic Instagram video appearing to call out the 49ers.
- Aiyuk hasn't played since October 2024 after tearing his right knee ACL, MCL and meniscus.
- The 49ers placed Aiyuk on the reserve/left squad list on Dec. 15, 2025.
San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk appeared to address his fractured relationship with the team in a cryptic minute and a half video posted Sunday on Instagram, saying the 49ers are “scared” to officially part ways with him because it would mean he could play against them.
“Stop running from the belt,” Aiyuk said in the video. “The belt coming. You scared. They scared.”
After signing a four-year, $120 million contract extension in August 2024, Aiyuk, 28, has not played for the 49ers since October 2024, when he tore the ACL, MCL and meniscus in his right knee during a loss to the Kansas City Chiefs.
In five seasons with the 49ers, Aiyuk recorded 294 catches for 4,305 yards and 25 touchdowns, including two 1,000-yard seasons.
Why hasn’t Aiyuk played?
49ers General Manager John Lynch previously said Aiyuk has likely played his last snap for the team. Lynch and head coach Kyle Shanahan also said the organization lost contact with Aiyuk last summer after he failed to report to the 49ers facility to rehabilitate his injured knee. The team had expected him to return at some point last season.
Aiyuk stopped responding to calls from Shanahan and other team staff members, they said, prompting the 49ers to place him on the reserve/left squad list on Dec. 15, 2025.
While a trade is still presumably on the table, Lynch said after the NFL Draft that the team didn’t have plans to release Aiyuk.
If he is not released or traded, Aiyuk will have to wait out the remainder of his contract extension. His four-year deal originally had $76 million guaranteed, though the Niners voided the 2026 guarantees in his contract last summer, which Aiyuk elected not to fight through the NFL Players Association.
During this long standoff, one thing Aiyuk has not been cryptic about, though, is where he wants to go once officially off the Niners roster.
The wideout follows five accounts on Instagram: his wife, his personal brand, Adidas and the Washington Commanders, as well as his friend and former Arizona State teammate Commanders quarterback Jayden Daniels.
What else did Aiyuk say?
While Aiyuk appeared to be referring to the 49ers in the video, he did not name the team or any individual. Instead, he used metaphors to describe his frustrations while referring to the video’s subject as a “female dog” and “little cat.”
“We dealing with them kids that when they don’t get picked for the basketball game at the court, but they the ones that brought the ball,” Aiyuk said. “So they like, ‘All right, y’all don’t want to pick me? I’m taking my ball. I’m going home.’”
He also suggested he believed the 49ers did not know how to best use him and that another team would be better positioned to maximize his talents.
The video also comes about a week after multiple outlets reported that the Santa Clara District Attorney’s Office issued an arrest warrant for Aiyuk in connection with a December speeding incident near Levi’s Stadium that he posted online in a video that later went viral.
“They gonna say, ‘Oh yeah, BA did this, BA did that.’ Allegedly,” Aiyuk said. “But what they not gonna say is ‘BA suck at football’ because they know how I get.”
