The one thing we’re still waiting for in all this Brandon Aiyuk drama is the “why”. Well, at least his side of the story. We know why the San Francisco 49ers are releasing their wide receiver—something something missed rehab meetings—but as far as Aiyuk is concerned, all we know is he wants out of San Francisco. Badly.

And he might not be the only one.

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Lake Lewis Jr. covers the Washington Commanders, and in a chat with Rio Robinson, he gave an update on Aiyuk’s status. From what Lewis reports, Aiyuk’s knee is good. He also indicated Aiyuk’s mental state was positive. Aiyuk simply didn’t want to be playing for the 49ers. And…uh…

“I’ve heard a lot of guys don’t want to be out there,” Lewis said. “I’m going to leave it at that.”

Uh-oh.

We know Aiyuk and the 49ers’ separation is a done deal, made official after the new league year on March 11. We didn’t know “a lot of guys don’t want to be out there.”

So, who else doesn’t want to be out there? Whoever this group of people is, is now the mystery. If you look at the Commanders, they have wide receiver Deebo Samuel, who had his own offseason drama with the 49ers in the past. The 49ers traded him to the Commanders in the 2025 offseason. So maybe that’s a source? Then again, Samuel has said there’s no bad blood, and it’s speculated his trade was salary cap reasons.

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And that’s really the follow-up behind the collective “who.” This could be star players like George Kittle and Fred Warner (highly unlikely since both signed extensions in 2025), or it could be the practice squad.

Beyond that, the second follow-up is, why would so many people want out of San Francisco? I know California tax isn’t the greatest thing for an NFL salary, but beyond that? Is it head coach Kyle Shanahan? Trent Williams, who the 49ers are still trying to negotiate a new deal, had some praise for him on the Pivot Podcast recently:

“I just look at it as he’s done the most with less. If you were to say we would go win a Super Bowl or a playoff game against the defending champions, down those names you just mentioned, what would San Francisco even be winning a Super Bowl without those guys? My brain can’t even process that. I don’t even know what that looks like. The fact that he made us competitive. The fact that we believed we could go win a Super Bowl. He literally made us believe. And it’s not because of what we had in the locker room, it’s what we had in the coach, because of how he broke down the game and how he understood his team; when to give days off, and when to push us through times when we want days off. He’s got a keen understanding of how to treat a locker room. Not sweating the small shit, but making sure everybody is accountable. Making sure we all play with that intensity. If you don’t? You get called out. He isn’t going to ‘MF-you’ in front of everybody. He’s going to do it in his own way, but it makes you feel like, damn, ‘I’m letting him down.’ ”

And yes, Williams may not be with the 49ers in 2026; that is a possibility. They are negotiating, but that hasn’t reached a conclusion. That said, it’s not like Williams made it a hard “peace out.” Successful extension or not, those don’t sound like the words of someone desperate to get out of San Francisco, or a locker room leader presiding over a group of players who do.

So who is left? John Lynch? No, he’s an NFL veteran and a Hall of Famer who has his players’ respect. 49ers owner Jed York? Dude got his tight end tequila after an Achilles injury. Is it someone else in the front office? Trent Baalke wasn’t exactly someone players wanted to work with once upon a time. There’s been nothing to indicate such a person is in the organization now. Or, at least one that has as much disdain as the former 49ers general manager.

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The point is, if a group of people want out of the 49ers, who they are would be one question. Why is quite another, and when you have stories like the owner taking George Kittle a bottle of booze or Trent Williams talking about how the head coach got the entire team to believe they were going to win a Super Bowl, it doesn’t seem like a lot of people want to up and leave that.

Or do they?