Brandon Aiyuk now looks set for a summer move as 49ers prepare to part ways

Photo by Chris Unger/Getty Images Brandon Aiyuk’s future with the 49ers still uncertain When John Lynch says, ‘Give us a call’, he is not trying to hide the direction of the conversation anymore. The 49ers sound like a team that has stopped treating a Brandon Aiyuk trade as a possibility and started treating it as the likely endgame. A deal does not need to be done right now.

But there are now even more reasons for the 49ers to wait until summer, because of how their cap is structured, and because they do not need him to make their receiving room work anymore. 49ers are built for life without Aiyuk Photo by Elsa/Getty Images San Francisco has spent the past few months putting together a roster that looks prepared to move on from Aiyuk. They already had a good amount of depth in place, and the moves they made after the draft have given them enough flexibility to reshape the receiver group if needed.

That matters because front offices usually do not speak this openly unless they believe the roster can survive the exit. The 49ers may still respect Aiyuk’s talent, but they no longer sound like a team planning around him as a foundational piece. “I think these things should have expiration dates,” Lynch said recently.

“And I think we’ve passed that. ” Lynch no longer sounds like an executive looking for ways to keep Aiyuk around. The exit does not need to be immediate, but it is starting to sound inevitable.