Brandon Aiyuk on Instagram: “6 days and it’s fireworks”

Despite the rumors debunked, everyone wants to speculate. Again.

Brandon Aiyuk is doing the “cryptic” stuff on Instagram again.

This time the San Francisco 49ers wide receiver posted this:

I don’t know how many times Aiyuk’s agent needs to shut down trade rumors, but as long as we get things like the above, people will speculate. As far as Instagram is concerned, this comes a week after Aiyuk unfollowed the 49ers.

But let’s unpack this post specifically. The “six days” Aiyuk is referring to is the time before the first round of the 2024 NFL draft. Last week we discussed how the final chapter in this story will unfold: with what the 49ers do in the first round. As long as they don’t take a wide receiver, Aiyuk should play on the fifth-year option. If a wide receiver is drafted in the first round, something is up.

Aiyuk’s agent has shot down trade rumors numerous times and the 49ers have said publicly they want to keep him around. So all things should point to either a deal getting done either this year or (hopefully) next year.

Of course, everyone wants to go to the trade “rumors” which have been debunked. “What else could he refer to” I saw someone say. That’s fair, but really, there’s a lot of things that could happen in the draft. Trading Aiyuk could be one of them, but there’s been more than enough to say that probably won’t happen.

We all remember the Deebo Samuel negotiations a couple of years ago and there was that report on his [Samuel’s] brother saying Samuel wanted out of San Francisco. Much like what Kyle said then, I will say here: It’s April, we have a long way to go, draft or otherwise.