[ad_1]
Brandon Aiyuk shed some light on his motives behind a mysterious social media post he made earlier this month referring to Pittsburgh Steelers coach Mike Tomlin.
After reports that the Steelers were interested in trading the 49ers star became widespread, Aiyuk posted on X, the site formerly known as Twitter, where he directly tagged Tomlin in his mysterious message.
During an interview on Shannon Sharp and Chad Ochocinco's show.Nightcappodcast, Aiyuk revealed what inspired him to take the position while actively participating in contract negotiations with the 49ers.
The 26-year-old stated that he had a plan to hide out until his birthday on March 17, which lines up with the timeline of the cryptic tweet mentioning Tomlin on X that he posted two days later on March 19.
“Every day while you're under [negotiations] “Or contract talks, every day is a different day,” Aiyuk explained. “I woke up, so I was like you know what I'm not even going to say, I'm going to leave my agent alone, I'm not going to do anything, I'm just going to wait until after my birthday. Then I'm going to try to put more pressure on them.”
The All-Pro said he saw social media posts comparing his appearance to Tomlin's, and decided to have some fun given reports swirling about Pittsburgh being involved in trade talks for him.
“I woke up and they were talking about another team they got [linked] “For trade talks or whatever,” Aiyuk said. “So I said let me — if everyone's saying this, this and that — let me go ahead and make one of my little points. I'm back with Tomlin, we can have a little fun with it. It's all in good fun,” Aiyuk said. “Like I said, we're all professionals, that's what it is. But that's where the Tomlin stuff came from.”
Aiyuk has been an important part of the 49ers offense since he was selected No. 25 overall in the 2020 NFL Draft. The 26-year-old earned Second Team All-Pro honors during the 2023 season after racking up 75 receptions for 1,342 yards and seven touchdowns.
On Monday, 49ers general manager John Lynch quickly denied any reports of San Francisco seeking to trade Aiyuk, also citing the 49ers' track record of getting contracts with their star players.
“We have a good history of working with the people we want to get done, and it takes two sides,” Lynch said at the NFL’s annual meeting. “Can we do that? We'll see.”
Aiyuk echoed similar sentiments during his interview with Sharpe and Ochocinco, noting that he is trying to get what he deserves while acknowledging that there are professionals on both sides working to reach a deal.
“We have professionals working on both sides,” Ayuk told Sharpe and Ochocinco. “I hope we can reach a professional agreement and continue playing professional football.”
Download and follow the 49ers Talk Podcast
[ad_2]
Source