Brandon Aiyuk files for reinstatement, plans to report to 49ers. What are team's options?

The San Francisco 49ers wide receiver who has been a handful is finally forcing his employer's hand.

Brandon Aiyuk, the All-Pro wideout who has spent the past 10-plus months on the 49ers' reserve/left squad list, has filed paperwork with the NFL to be reinstated and plans to report to the team's facility in Santa Clara on Friday afternoon, ESPN reported.

Aiyuk's return will force the 49ers to make a move: They can release Aiyuk or attempt to trade him before the league's trade deadline Tuesday. Another potential option - keeping him - isn't viewed as an option by the team's chief decision-makers.

General manager John Lynch has said Aiyuk has played his last snap with the 49ers. In September, amid a rash of wide receiver injuries, head coach Kyle Shanahan was asked if he'd consider a reunion with Aiyuk. His response: "No."

As far as trading Aiyuk, it's unlikely the 49ers will have a strong market for his services.

Aiyuk, 28, hasn't played in the NFL since Oct. 20, 2024, when he tore multiple ligaments in his right knee and there are questions about how well Aiyuk rehabbed an injury that Lynch termed "catastrophic." The 49ers voided Aiyuk's remaining contract guarantees last year when he didn't participate in mandatory rehab sessions.

Aiyuk's newly hired agent, Drew Rosenhaus, told ESPN that his client was "healthy and ready to get back on the field."

Aiyuk has also torpedoed his trade value with his behavior. Shanahan said he didn't see him during the final two months of the 2025 regular season, a period during which he didn't respond to teammates and coaches.

Aiyuk ended his public silence on his in-limbo career in early June with an Instagram video in which he termed the 49ers "female dogs" and "little boys" who were "scared" to play against him once they let him go.

It began a series of summer social-media posts in which Aiyuk made his distaste for Lynch and Shanahan evident. After Shanahan suffered significant injuries in a car wreck in July, Aiyuk tastelessly wrote: "You can't win the race if you crash out."

An arrest warrant had been issued for Aiyuk, according to a report in June, because he was wanted on a misdemeanor speeding charge. In December, Aiyuk had posted a video in which he was captured driving 69 mph in a 40 mph zone as he passed Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara.

In July, after he'd publicly campaigned to join the Commanders, who employ QB Jayden Daniels, his friend and Arizona State teammate, Aiyuk announced he'd purchased a $10 million home near Washington's facility in Ashburn, Va. A day later, Aiyuk, wearing a Commanders hat, urged fans to purchase Commanders tickets.

The 49ers were content to observe from a distance. As long as Aiyuk remained on the reserve/left squad list, he didn't take up a roster spot, the 49ers weren't paying him and they didn't incur a dead-money salary cap charge that would be triggered by his exit.

Aiyuk never tried to force the 49ers' hand by showing up for work during the offseason program or training camp and parted with his agent, Ryan Williams. That, coupled with his online behavior, raised questions about his desire to play in the NFL again.