The Patriots have moved on from Brandon Aiyuk.
Several NFL insiders earlier this month reported New England removed itself from the running for Aiyuk, who's been in a contract standoff with San Francisco for quite some time. But we received word straight from the horse's mouth Sunday when Eliot Wolf confirmed to reporters that the Patriots ended their pursuit of the star wide receiver.
New England's vice president of player personnel also explained why the team halted its negotiations with the pass-catcher and the 49ers.
"Yeah, just kind of a feel," Wolf told reporters, per a team-provided transcript. "It was sort of a situation where he’s still in San Francisco, and that hasn’t been worked out from their standpoint yet. But we just felt, organizationally, our young receivers have had a really good week, and they're continuing to progress, so we’re excited about those guys."
Wolf also noted how the Patriots' door for trading for Aiyuk was closed "at this point." Such a remark left room for potentially reversing course, but it's very tough to imagine the 2020 first-round pick in a New England uniform moving forward.
While Wolf's comments indicated the Patriots made their own choice to back off Aiyuk, that might not tell the entire story. Many signs point to the 26-year-old stiff-arming New England, and with the way things are going at One Patriot Place, who could blame him?
