When unusual situations emerge in the NFL, it becomes a piece-by-piece exercise in figuring out the specific rules that apply. And few situations have been more unusual than 49ers receiver Brandon Aiyuk’s odyssey of the past year.
He’s back on the 49ers, at a salary of $13.75 million for the rest of the season. That fact pointed to the 49ers releasing him by 4:00 p.m. 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 yet another obscure wrinkle applies. Under Article 20, Section 4 of the Collective Bargaining Agreement, the 49ers owe Aiyuk nothing during his two-week roster exemption.
From the relevant provision: “If a Club obtains a roster exemption for a player under contract who does not report to his Club at least five days before the final day of Preseason Training Camp as defined in Article 23, Section 10, the player will not be entitled to preseason or regular season compensation until such exemption is removed, provided the player is given written notice of such fact upon reporting to the Club. If such notice is not given to the player, the player must be paid his Paragraph 5 Salary during his exemption.”
So if the 49ers gave Aiyuk written notice that he won’t be paid during the two-week roster exemption (and they surely did), they don’t have to pay him. Which pushes their deadline for avoiding owing him a game check until Tuesday, November 24 — one day after the expiration of the exemption.
Why not just cut him? The 49ers are delaying the move because they can, postponing by up to two weeks his passage through waivers and, given his salary, inevitable free agency.
In the interim, he’s on the team. But Aiyuk won’t be reporting for work on Wednesday. He has been excused, we’re told, from team activities and he’s working out on his own.
The 49ers could release him at any moment. There’s no reason not to do so, other than to apply the brakes to his ability to join another team.
The circumstances counter the notion that he was reinstated by the league subject to any type of agreement with the 49ers. If that had happened, the agreement surely would have included a requirement that the 49ers promptly cut him.
Which means that the NFL, after apparently working with the 49ers to delay Aiyuk’s reinstatement in order to help the 49ers recover bonus money from Aiyuk, finally decided that reinstatement from the reserve/left squad list can’t be delayed in order to advance a team’s strategic objectives.
So, yes, Aiyuk eventually will be released. He wasn’t released today because the 49ers don’t owe him a game check for Week 10, or for Week 11. Eventually, when the roster exemption expires, they’ll cut him.
For now, the team’s delay in doing the inevitable points to a desire to keep another team from getting him, sticking it to Aiyuk, or some of both. It’s petty, but the 49ers have the power to do it.