George Kittle Talks Brandon Aiyuk's Fallout With 49ers in Video, 'I Don't Know What's Going On'

San Francisco 49ers tight end George Kittle opened up about his efforts to mend the split between his team and wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk on Tuesday's episode of the Bussin' With The Boys podcast.

Kittle said he has "no idea" what's currently on with Aiyuk, who is still under contract with the Niners despite not having played for the team since October 2024.

"I don't know what's going on with Brandon. I don't know what he's thinking about, or what he's thinking. So I really have no idea," Kittle said around the 2:22:20 mark of the episode.

Kittle expanded around the 2:21:00 mark about the efforts he made to connect with Aiyuk ahead of the season.

Aiyuk's absence from the 49ers at the beginning of the 2025 campaign initially appeared to be connected to the torn ACL and MCL right knee he suffered in October 2024.

That split between team and player became public when coach Kyle Shanahan confirmed in November the Niners had voided the guaranteed 2026 money in Aiyuk's contract back in July.

That decision reportedly came after Aiyuk missed offseason appointments with the team while rehabbing his knee, per ESPN's Jeremy Fowler.

"The last time I saw Aiyuk was, because he was kind of at training camp, kind of not, and then he was in and out of the building throughout those first couple of weeks," Kittle said. "And I started going out to see him in weight room, because he didn't go into the locker room or the training room anymore, so he would just go to the weight room to do his rehab."

Kittle continued, "I'd just go there to talk to him, because he didn't go to meetings, or anything like that. I would just talk to him, let him know that, 'Hey, I'm your guy. Just know I love you... Just, 'Hey, man, we've played together for four years now. I love you. I love playing football with you. How can I help?'

"And then, literally two days later, the article comes out and I don't get to see him again."

Kittle added that Aiyuk texted him "Thinking of you" after Kittle suffered a torn Achilles tendon during the Niners' Wild Card win over the Philadelphia Eagles in January.

ESPN's Adam Schefter recently said on ESPN Live the 49ers are still planning to release Aiyuk, but "they're not planning to release him anytime soon."

"I think they will be holding onto him to see if there's any trade value at all," Schefter said, before naming the Washington Commanders as a possible destination for the wide receiver.

Aiyuk is still under contract through 2028, although he has no guaranteed money left on the deal, per Spotrac. Any team potentially acquiring him from the Niners this offseason would be likely to cut him or restructure his contract before his scheduled cap hit increases to more than $41 million in 2027.