The end of Brandon Aiyuk’s tenure with the San Francisco 49ers took another step toward becoming official.

San Francisco announced on Saturday that Aiyuk has been placed on the reserve/left squad list, officially ending his ability to play during the 2025 season.

It has been assumed for some time that Aiyuk wouldn’t be back with the 49ers in 2026.

The Athletic’s Dianna Russini and Michael Silver reported on Nov. 15 that the Niners voided Aiyuk’s guaranteed money for next season after he “failed to attend meetings and declined to participate in other team activities” in recent months.

Aiyuk could have had the NFL Players Association file a grievance on his behalf to potentially recover his future guaranteed money, but Russini and Silver noted he did not want to fight the 49ers’ decision.

The details of Aiyuk’s four-year, $120 million contract include $24.9 million option bonus for 2026 that fully guaranteed on April 1, 2025. He also has a $1.2 million base salary and a $750,000 roster bonus for each game he was active next season.

Russini reported on Saturday that a resolution to the situation between the 49ers and Aiyuk is likely to come “sooner rather than later.”

Despite the financial standoff between the two sides, 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan didn’t totally rule out the possibility of Aiyuk playing this season even though he wasn’t optimistic about it.

“Oh, I’m definitely still hopeful. I’m not counting on it, but I’m definitely still hoping that can happen,” Shanahan told reporters on Dec. 2.

Assuming Aiyuk is released by the 49ers in the offseason, it will end one of the strangest player-team sagas in recent memory. He was on the All-Pro second team in 2023 after recording a career-high 1,342 receiving yards to help San Francisco reach the Super Bowl.

The two sides then engaged in a long contract standoff during the summer of 2024 that finally ended when Aiyuk signed a four-year, $120 million extension in August, even though the 49ers also had a trade in place with the Pittsburgh Steelers if it came to that.

Aiyuk only played in seven games during the 2024 season before tearing his ACL and MCL in a Week 7 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs. He started this season on the physically unable to perform list while continuing to rehab the injury.

A first-round pick in the 2020 draft, Aiyuk seems likely to become a free agent this offseason for the first time in his career.