When unusual situations arise in the NFL, it becomes a piecemeal exercise in understanding the specific rules that apply. And few situations have been more unusual than 49ers receiver Brandon Aiyuk’s odyssey last year.
He is back in the 49th, in one salary of $13.75 million for the rest of the season. That fact indicated that the 49ers would release him by 4:00 PM ET on Tuesday in order to avoid owing him one-ninth of the total amount ($1.52 million) for Week 10.
But here’s where another dark wrinkle applies. Under Article 20, Section 4 of the Collective Bargaining Agreement, the 49ers owe Ajuk nothing during his two-week suspension.
From the relevant provision: “If a club receives a roster exception for a contract player who does not report to his club at least five days before the last day of preseason training camp, as defined in Article 23, Section 10, the player shall not be entitled to preseason or regular season compensation until such exception is lifted, provided written notice is not given to the player not to give such notice to the club. to the player, the player must be paid the salary referred to in paragraph 5 during his suspension.”
So if the 49ers gave Ajuk written notice that he won’t be paid during his two-week layoff (and they probably did), they don’t have to pay him. Which pushes their deadline to avoid forcing a game control to Tuesday, November 24 – the day after the exemption expires.
Why not wait? The 49ers are delaying the move because they can, delaying his passage through waivers and, given his salary, inevitable free agency by up to two weeks.
In the meantime, he’s on the team. But Aiyuk will not report to work on Wednesday. He has been excused, we are told, from team activities and is training on his own.
The 49ers could release him at any time. There is no reason not to, other than to inhibit his ability to join another team.
The circumstances belie the notion that he was brought back from the league subject to any sort of deal with the 49ers. If that had happened, the deal likely would have included a requirement for the 49ers to cut him immediately.
Which means the NFL, after apparently working with the 49ers to delay Aiyuk’s return in order to help the 49ers recoup bonus money from Aiyuk, has finally decided that a return from the bench/left tackle cannot be delayed to advance a team’s strategic goals.
So yes, Aiyuk will eventually be released. He wasn’t released today because the 49ers don’t owe him a check for Week 10 or Week 11. Eventually, when the delisting expires, they will cut it.
At the moment, the team’s delay in doing the inevitable indicates a desire to keep another team from taking him, hold on to Aiyuk, or some of the two. It’s small, but the 49ers have the power to do it.
