Brandon Aiyuk has spoken out on his soap opera with the San Francisco 49ers for the first time. The catch: He did so Sunday in a cryptic Instagram video. A day after the former All-Pro wide receiver posted multiple IG photos wearing a Washington Commanders hat, he relied on analogies to express his apparent frustration with the current standstill. 

Let’s attempt to decode Aiyuk’s rant, which lasted all of 1 minute and 30 seconds, and included slow-mo edits.

The video begins: “We dealing with them kids when they don’t get picked for the basketball game at the court, but they the ones that brought the ball. So they like, ‘All right, y’all don’t want to pick me? I’m taking my ball. I’m going home.’ … Or like when your kid, he got this one toy but he don’t really know how to use it correctly. So somebody else about to pick it up and play with it. And they’re like, ‘Oh yeah, this sh— litty.’ And they like, ‘Wait, wait, wait, wait, hold on, that’s my toy.’”

Aiyuk compares the 49ers to the kid who takes his ball and goes home, perhaps because they have yet to release him, in turn preventing the disgruntled receiver from immediately picking his new team as a free agent. Then he implies the Niners misused him but won’t let another team use him more to his liking. Over the weekend, Aiyuk posted pictures in which he posed with a Commanders hat. His old college quarterback at Arizona State and close friend, Jayden Daniels, stars for the Commanders.

The thing is, Aiyuk signed a four-year, $120 million contract extension, including $76 million guaranteed, with the 49ers in August of 2024. The deal also came after the best season of his career: Aiyuk recorded 75 catches for 1,342 yards and seven touchdowns as a second-team All-Pro. The Niners heavily relied on him en route to making a Super Bowl appearance.

Instead of signing the extension, Aiyuk would have been well within his rights to play out the final year of his rookie contract and test free agency the following offseason.

“Man, stop running from the belt,” Aiyuk continued in the Instagram post. “The belt coming. You scared. They scared. The truth is, they scared. They know how I get. They gonna say, ‘Oh yeah, BA did this, BA did that.’ You know that sh— allegedly. Allegedly. But what they not gonna say is BA suck at football because they know how I get and they running from that belt that’s on the way. It’s inevitable. It’s coming. Stop running. Stop being a female dog. Stop being a female dog (edited to repeat in slow-mo). Stop being a little cat. Stop being a little cat (edited to repeat in slow-mo). And stop running from the belt.”

This part is not cryptic. Aiyuk says the 49ers are scared about letting him walk to another team out of fear of having to play against him, and the Niners play the Commanders on Oct. 19 this coming season.

The 49ers have made clear the delay over Aiyuk’s exit from the organization is their attempt to get something in return for him. So long as Aiyuk is on the reserve/left squad list, he does not take up a roster spot and does not count against the salary cap. 

After all that was said, Aiyuk did not address why he punted on $27 million of guaranteed money (which the 49ers voided in 2026) if he was not at fault. He could have filed a grievance with the NFL Players Association to challenge the voiding of that payment; he did not. 

Instead, he filmed himself speeding past Levi’s Stadium in a Youtube video that prompted the Santa Clara Police Department to issue a warrant for his arrest last week.