Chris Simms vehemently defends 49ers for holding Brandon Aiyuk hostage

The San Francisco 49ers' decision not to release disgruntled wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk at the start of the league new year might be seen as petty to some. After all, both general manager John Lynch and head coach Kyle Shanahan originally made it clear the AWOL pass catcher had played his final snap in a Niners uniform when they spoke with reporters last January.

Now, the tone has shifted toward overtures of a would-be trade, hoping to get something (anything) out of an offseason deal.

All the while denying Aiyuk the chance to sign with whatever team wants to offer him a deal, such as the Washington Commanders, who are viewed as the most logical choice.

But Washington reportedly doesn't want to trade for a player when an outright release is anticipated.

So, San Francisco is holding its ground. And Aiyuk can't go anywhere, at least officially, even if he's AWOL in the truest sense of the term.

In response to those who may criticize the 49ers for effectively holding Aiyuk hostage, Pro Football Talk's Chris Simms shot back in about as direct a way as possible.

And it's pretty clear the former quarterback isn't siding with the player on this one.

Chris Simms on 49ers' situation with Brandon Aiyuk: 'He screwed them over multiple times'

Speaking with fellow PFT analyst Mike Florio from the NFL annual meeting in Phoenix, Arizona, Simms didn't exactly mince words when detailing why the Niners weren't letting go of Aiyuk immediately.

He screwed them over multiple times. There’s really no other way to say it. He’s done that and because of that, they’re certainly not going to be in any rush, this isn’t one of your stories 'He’s been great to us. He’s been awesome. We’re going to try and work with him and make the player happy', no this is gonna be one where they go "We actually don’t care about the player at all," and I could see this being one where they’re waiting into training camp and some team in the playoff conversation gets an injury or they look at their roster and be like, "We don’t have a guy, hey 49ers, here’s a third- or a fourth-rounder for Brandon Aiyuk."

... This is a case where the 49ers can wait as long as they possibly can before they unload him.

Strong words.

In some ways, it's the polar opposite of how the Niners treated fellow wide receiver Deebo Samuel's situation the year prior, honoring his trade request entering 2025 despite knowing it'd result in a substantial dead-cap hit, although the owed cash dropped to zero.

Samuel, who did have an acrimonious extension-negotation standoff with San Francisco in 2022, nevertheless avoided going AWOL after his new deal went official.

That's probably a major difference here, and while Simms didn't directly refer to Samuel, it's hard not to draw the contrast between the two.

The 49ers are playing the long game. According to Simms, they have the absolute right to.