Never a great sign.

The San Francisco 49ers are still trying to trade wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk, but with reports about how he has been tough to get a hold of, that seems like a long shot.

Aiyuk seems to be hurting his own case to get another shot in the NFL, and his former personal coach continues to criticize him.

T.J. Houshmandzadeh was a solid NFL receiver for years, mostly with the Cincinnati Bengals. His playing days are over, though, and he has apparently helped out Aiyuk as a personal wide receiver in retirement. Houshmandzadeh has been critical of Aiyuk in the past for his behavior and has continued to take aim at him.

Here is what the coach said in a recent podcast interview with Emmanuel Acho:

“I used to talk to BA often. Haven’t talked to him in a long time. If I did talk to him, I would tell him straight up, ‘Bro, what the [expletive] are you doing?’ Tom Brady retired and did the NFL stop? It kept on going. This show don’t stop for nobody. Enjoy the ride while you’re on the bus because when it’s your turn to get off, you ain’t getting back on. Make them force you off.”

Those are some pretty harsh words from a guy who used to be close to Aiyuk. Houshmandzadeh also had some advice for the Niners on what they should do with Aiyuk after this whole saga:

“If you’re the Niners, the way BA just acted this past season with ghosting himself, I would release his [expletive] the day before the start of the regular season. Why would I do you a favor? Whenever the first game is, they’re gonna release him that Tuesday.”

That may seem brutal and cold-hearted, but that’s probably what the 49ers are planning to do.

They know no one is going to trade for Aiyuk, given the contract situation, uncertainty about his knee and how he’d look post-injury, and most importantly how dependable he’d even be given his erratic behavior with San Francisco in recent years.

He’s caused a headache for general manager John Lynch and head coach Kyle Shanahan for years, so they are not going to cut him loose until the last moment they have to. Not because they think some team will swing a trade for him at the 11th hour but because they don’t want to do him any favors by allowing him to sign with a team and get comfortable with them through offseason activities.

Call it vindictive or petty, but that’s probably what the Niners will do.

After dealing with the drama of both the Aiyuk and Deebo Samuel sagas, they are clearly done with diva wide receivers. That’s why they signed consummate professional Mike Evans in free agency. Don’t expect Evans to be causing any issues or throwing hissy fits this upcoming season.

It is sad how this has all played out with Aiyuk. Who knows whats going on in his head or his personal life, but if he had just signed a reasonable contract extension without fanfare and continued to work his way back from injury, then he’d still be a key part of the roster.

Alas, his NFL future now seems uncertain, given his behavior.

Houshmandzadeh was once close to Aiyuk, so he knows him better than most. If he can’t even defend Aiyuk’s behavior, then it’s easy to see why NFL teams are avoiding him unless it’s on a very low-risk contract.