Former San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk might have to put his money where his mouth is. After Aiyuk’s incessant rants on Instagram demanding that his former team release him, the 49ers are taking matters into their own hands. Former 49ers safety Donte Whitner is here for all of it. 

“When Aiyuk said he didn’t care about how much money he lost to be able to get away from the 49ers, he thought that he was in the clear,” Whitner said on The Grit Code Podcast. He thought that they couldn’t get anything else from him, and guess what? Boy, was he wrong. His mouth wrote a check that his a– cannot cash.

“… With the way he’s been spending and the way he’s been splurging, he’s curled up in a ball right now. He’s in that fearful zone now. And I think the 49ers should do everything they can to recoup every dollar they can get back from him. If he doesn’t have the money, guess where it comes from? His future contracts. Brandon Aiyuk, if you’re listening, make sure that if you get another opportunity, you shut your damn mouth.” 

Brandon Aiyuk’s showdown with the 49ers has mostly been him firing shots at the team, which is yet to act on his constant rants. In one of his now-deleted videos, the WR bragged about having already earned $50 million ($48.15 million, in reality) through his contract. He has made it a point to express his frustration about the team for not releasing him, calling them “scared,” “dumb,” and “stupid.”

Per NBC Bay Area’s Matt Maiocco, the 49ers are looking to recover a part of the $23 million signing bonus granted to Aiyuk when he signed the 4-year, $120 million deal back in August 2024. The complete lack of contact with his former team since last year, and the disrespectful behavior towards the Niners front office in the past few weeks have come back to bite Aiyuk. 

“If the 49ers voided his contract a year ago in late July, they could get as much as $18.4 million back,” Maiocco said. “Whatever the case may be, the 49ers are certainly going after that money.”

Aiyuk is also without an agent.

The 49ers pulled the rug out from under him when the WR refused to participate in the rehabilitation process for the ACL and MCL injuries he sustained during a Week 7 game against the Kansas City Chiefs in 2024. He was placed on the PUP list before being moved to the reserve/left squad by December 2025. Aiyuk was quick to defend his stance in another one of his Instagram tirades.

“They’re saying all this because I missed rehab. No, I didn’t miss rehab. I just didn’t rehab with you all.”

San Francisco voided the guaranteed money in Aiyuk’s contract for this season, which is reportedly worth $27 million. However, since then, Aiyuk has been flaunting quite a bit on social media. His Instagram page has only six posts, which show us his lifestyle. We see luxury cars in one of them, and Aiyuk posing with a huge pile of cash in another.

Whitner’s comment on Aiyuk’s mouth being the cause of his downfall might be coming true.