Good Riddance? George Kittle Seemingly Doesn’t Mind Brandon Aiyuk Potentially Going to Commanders

Brandon Aiyuk has missed 27 games since signing a massive four year contract, and is demanding to be traded to the Commanders.

Good Riddance? George Kittle Seemingly Doesn’t Mind Brandon Aiyuk Potentially Going to Commanders

Brandon Aiyuk and George Kittle inside the circle (Image via IMAGO/X)

Once upon a time, George Kittle and Brandon Aiyuk used to hype one another up on various platforms. Times have changed. Aiyuk’s antics are even getting on Kittle’s nerves.

Kittle’s too nice to badmouth his San Francisco 49ers teammate. He once let Seattle’s Jaxon Smith-Njigba off the hook for smoking a cigar inside Levi’s Stadium after a playoff defeat. That doesn’t mean the veteran tight end has never been critical of another football player.

Kittle recently appeared on the Pardon My Take podcast via FaceTime and gave his honest take on the entire Aiyuk fiasco. From what he recalls, Aiyuk always works hard, or at least did when he saw him the last time, which was “at least that was a year, eight months ago.”

Aiyuk signed a four-year, $120 million contract extension in 2024. Seven games into his new contract, he suffered a season-ending ACL injury. That was the last time anyone saw him on the gridiron. He refused to attend offseason camps and missed the entire 2025 season. As punishment, the 49ers voided the guarantees in his contract.

Aiyuk began posting cryptic messages to secure a move to the Washington Commanders to play with his former Arizona State teammate Jayden Daniels, Washington’s starting quarterback. The standoff has reached a point of no return.

I think it’s safe to say that [Aiyuk has] played his last snap with the Niners. It’s unfortunate. A situation that just went awry. And I will look long and hard at what could have been done differently, but sometimes it just doesn’t work out. And I think that this was a case where that happened.

49ers GM John Lynch said earlier in the year

Kittle doubled down on Lynch’s statement, but put his own spin on it.

You guys have fun with that, I guess…You have fun with all that comes with it.

Kittle said

Funny enough, that’s not even Kittle’s final punchline. The All-Pro athlete saved the best for last. A PFT commenter (a Commanders fan) said that Aiyuk will be happy once he’s free of the 49ers.

Yeah, you’re right. I wouldn’t be happy either after a team paid me $130 million dollars.

Kittle quipped

Friendly banter aside, that’s one heck of a burn from Kittle.

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Super Bowl champion calls Brandon Aiyuk “Stupid”

Wide receivers are infamous for using theatrics to get their way. Hall of Famer Terrell Owens was notoriously good at it. But Aiyuk’s situation is different, and it’s setting a bad precedent.

Good Riddance? George Kittle Seemingly Doesn't Mind Brandon Aiyuk Potentially Going to Commanders
Brandon Aiyuk (Image via IMAGO)

Mark Schlereth, who won three Super Bowls as a guard in the NFL, didn’t mince his words while talking about Aiyuk recently on The Stinkin Truth Podcast.

You can’t fix stupid. So, I don’t know how you’re gonna fix that… You think your expert tutelage is gonna get that guy to not have a meltdown when something doesn’t go his way? I have no time for that level of selfishness, that level of self-conceit, that level of ‘it’s about me and not about the team’. You cannot win with dudes like that on your team.

Schlereth said

Aiyuk’s contract ends after the 2027 season. Per Spotrac, he has a dead cap charge of $33.598 million if the 49ers release him within that timeframe. But the Niners have zero obligation to bow their heads to his demands. They can wait it out because there is no guaranteed money left. Unless a team, preferably the Commanders, agrees to exchange a late-round pick, the 49ers have the liberty to sit around and do nothing.

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