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The Brandon Aiyuk and San Francisco 49ers situation doesn’t have a solution, as the team is holding out for a trade, and the player has yet to show up at the Niners’ facilities to allow them to make a decision.

While there’s speculation linking Aiyuk to the Washington Commanders, until Aiyuk shows up and starts getting his NFL career back on track, the 49ers don’t have to make any decision on him other than putting him on the NFL’s reserve/left squad list.

On the May 19 edition of the “Rich Eisen Show,” NFL insider Mike Garafolo shared blunt advice for the wideout. 

“If I could advise Brandon Aiyuk, I would tell him to show up for work,” Garafolo said. “I would have told him to show up for work a couple of weeks ago. Go ahead and see if they’re willing to let you work out, run routes, and do things at their facility.

“If you’re injured, all of a sudden those guarantees are back, and your money is on their books once again. He did not do that. He has not done that.”

Moreover, Garafolo speculates that Aiyuk isn’t showing up to the Niners’ facilities due to pride. Although Aiyuk is away from the team and hasn’t shown up, the 49ers wideout doesn’t have much leverage in the situation. 

“He’s got a lot of pride,” Garafolo added. “That’s kind of why we are where we are, because it was strongly suggested to him that he show up for everything he needed to show up for last year during his rehab and team meetings, because they were going to take those guarantees away.

“And he didn’t listen to those warnings along the way. Now he’s at a point where the team is controlling things rather than him controlling things.”

Brandon Aiyuk Isn’t Communicating With Many People

With Aiyuk not reporting to the Niners, the question Garafolo is raising is whether the player is healthy to play football. The insider notes that the player is only communicating with a small group of people, so it’s hard to pinpoint whether he could even be ready for Week 1.

“The number of people communicating with Brandon Aiyuk right now, Washington may know better than San Francisco,” Garafolo noted. “There’s an extremely small circle he has been willing to communicate with thus far. I don’t know where he wants to play. I can’t answer that question. Does he want to play NFL football? Does he want to play in Washington? I have no idea.

“That’s part of it, too. From a health standpoint, that was part of San Francisco’s thinking. They wanted to see him. They wanted him up close. They wanted to monitor his rehab, see what he was doing and be a part of it. He wasn’t willing to be there, at least not 100 percent of the time, or enough of the time for them to say, ‘OK, we’ll keep your guarantees locked in for next season.'”

Could 49ers, Brandon Aiyuk Situation Continue to Drag?

With OTAs for the Niners beginning May 27 and mandatory minicamp starting on June 9, the coming days could paint a clearer picture regarding whether Aiyuk has any intention of showing up.

“Does he have to now show up for mandatory?” Garafolo said. “Can he be fined for missing minicamp, or is it like left squad, we don’t have the answers to that? As we get into minicamp and training camp, if it’s still not resolved, could the clock just continue to run with no further financial penalty for him than what he’s already suffered to this point? These are questions we’re going to have to get the answer to if it drags on that long.

“Again, Aiyuk could put an end to this tomorrow if he wanted to. He hasn’t been willing to do that. I don’t know why, if you’re Washington or anybody, you’d give up a pick for a guy in this situation when you know what’s happening. So it continues to play out.”