Ramonz_C 🇦🇺 🇵🇭

I laid a lot of this out a couple months ago, but here's how this is going and what I expect - the 49ers have sent a "letter of demand" according to the process, for forfeiture of pro-rated signing bonus. Aiyuk is trying to either avoid paying the entire thing back or come to a negotiated settlement for a lesser amount. When there is a dispute, a 3rd party arbitrator is going to decide how much, if any, of the signing bonus is to be forfeited. What Aiyuk and Rosenhaus are doing today is a show of good-faith that Aiyuk wants to work in the NFL and be employed and they are going to make the argument that the 49ers - not him, are the obstacle between him and rendering services. Thus, he is not in breach of contract. Or, at the very least, that he is not solely responsible for that. So, he's reporting to the facility to try and force the 49ers to deny him an opportunity to fulfill his employment obligations. On the 49ers side, they cannot publicly say they will not accept his services, or else they would effectively forfeit a judgement by admitting that it is they who will not allow for services rendered, not Aiyuk refusing to provide those services. This is why they won't rule out a return, it's why they're not making any statements about if he'll play or what will happen. Goodell won't reinstate a player that has an outstanding arbitration with their employer over this, this is just the first step in a legal chess-game. I fully believe Aiyuk wants to play for the Chiefs, now, and the 49ers will do what they can to keep him from screwing over the team again. So, they'll drag this out, prevent themselves from having all his dead money, and make so that if he goes to another team, it'll be late in the year when he'll have less time to get up to speed.