49ers WR Brandon Aiyuk Tweets at Steelers HC Mike Tomlin

It cant be a coincidence that news broke this morning that the Pittsburgh Steelers want to trade for Aiyuk, and a few hours later Aiyuk tweeted directly at Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin.

Grant Cohn | Mar 19, 2024

49ers WR Brandon Aiyuk Tweets at Steelers HC Mike Tomlin /

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Either Brandon Aiyuk wants significantly more money from the 49ers than they've offered him, or he wants off the team.

It cant be a coincidence that news broke this morning that the Pittsburgh Steelers want to trade for Aiyuk, and a few hours later Aiyuk tweeted directly at Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin.

In addition, Aiyuk liked a tweet that said, "Niners trying to call him (Aiyuk) and he said nah lol."

It really sounds like Aiyuk doesn't want to play for the 49ers anymore. It sounds personal.

I find it interesting that he chose to tweet at the Steelers head coach, not their quarterback, Russell Wilson, the one that would throw Aiyuk the ball. The way I interpret things, Aiyuk has no issue with the 49ers quarterback, Brock Purdy. Those two have an excellent connection.

If Aiyuk has an issue with anyone, it's Kyle Shanahan, the man who didn't call his number in the Super Bowl. The man who put him in the doghouse early in his career for no good reason. The man who seems to be best friends with Deebo Samuel but not Aiyuk.

Before the Super Bowl, I asked both Samuel and Aiyuk how their relationships with Shanahan are unique. Samuel said Shanahan is his friend for life and they can talk about things other than football. Aiyuk said their relationship is different and left it at that.

It's possible Aiyuk and Shanahan never really got along, and now their relationship is permanently broken after Shanahan freezed out Aiyuk in the Super Bowl.

Makes you wonder.

Published Mar 19, 2024

GRANT COHN

Grant Cohn has covered the San Francisco 49ers daily since 2011. He spent the first nine years of his career with the Santa Rosa Press Democrat where he wrote the Inside the 49ers blog and covered famous coaches and athletes such as Jim Harbaugh, Colin Kaepernick and Patrick Willis. In 2012, Inside the 49ers won Sports Blog of the Year from the Peninsula Press Club. In 2020, Cohn joined FanNation and began writing All49ers. In addition, he created a YouTube channel which has become the go-to place on YouTube to consume 49ers content. Cohn's channel typically generates roughly 3.5 million viewers per month, while the 49ers' official YouTube channel generates roughly 1.5 million viewers per month. Cohn live streams almost every day and posts videos hourly during the football season. Cohn is committed to asking the questions that 49ers fans want answered, and providing the most honest and interactive coverage in the country. His loyalty is to the reader and the viewer, not the team or any player or coach. Cohn is a new-age multimedia journalist with an old-school mentality, because his father is Lowell Cohn, the legendary sports columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle from 1979 to 1993. The two have a live podcast every Tuesday. Grant Cohn grew up in Oakland and studied English Literature at UCLA from 2006 to 2010. He currently lives in Oakland with his wife.