Brandon Aiyuk spent weeks acting like Washington was his next stop, but the Commanders closed the door on that idea Wednesday by signing Stefon Diggs.
For nearly two months, Aiyuk had been firing off shots at the San Francisco 49ers on social media while pretending he was already headed to Washington. That fantasy is over now, and the timing makes the point pretty clear: the Commanders moved on.
Aiyuk never really had a realistic path there in the first place. The big issue was his failure to file for reinstatement. If he truly wanted to land in Washington, that paperwork would have been the first step.
From there, the play was obvious. Once reinstated, he could have shown up at the 49ers’ facility, either during OTAs or at training camp, and forced the issue. At that point, the 49ers would have had to release him.
He had leverage. Not a perfect hand, but enough to matter.
The 49ers almost certainly would have let him go. Instead, he kept leaning into the social media act.
That approach did him no favors. Rather than making the moves that would help his NFL future, he kept taking shots at the 49ers and eventually got tangled in a strange back-and-forth with Jayden Daniels, the quarterback who would have been his future teammate.
Instead of building toward that possibility, he was in a public fight with him. That kind of situation is not exactly going to make general manager Adam Peters or head coach Dan Quinn eager to bring him in.
Even if Aiyuk came cheap, he brings too much uncertainty. The Commanders clearly decided he was too much of a wild card, especially since he never took the necessary steps that could have put him in position to be released.
That’s when Washington pivoted to Diggs. He comes with baggage too, but the Commanders know he can still make an impact on the field, and they do not see him as the kind of locker room threat Aiyuk would be.
In the end, Washington made the easy call. Aiyuk’s social media campaign went nowhere, and he has only himself to blame. Don’t expect him to play in 2026.
In Other News...
49ers Camp Just Took Another Hit As Depth Concerns Grow
The 49ers training camp continues to get thinner by the day, with injuries and maintenance days starting to pile up across the roster. Several wide receivers are still out, and the team has had to keep shuffling bodies just to keep practice moving, even as it tries to build toward the 2026 preseason schedule.
San Francisco also has been managing the workload of key players like Nick Bosa, giving veterans rest days to keep them fresh. In the middle of all that, the club has had to add outside help at receiver and along the defensive line, a reminder that camp depth is becoming a real concern before the games even begin. [Read more 🡒]
49ers May Regret Passing On Proven Pass Rush Help
The 49ers spent part of the offseason weighing whether to add more proven help on the edge, but they ultimately passed on a veteran rusher who was looking for a new landing spot. With injuries and some inexperience creating real depth concerns on the defensive line, San Francisco instead turned to veteran Ogbo Okoronkwo to help stabilize the group and add another option to the rotation.
The choice to stay away from the veteran market could look even more interesting now because the player in question signed a one-year deal with Houston, a relatively modest arrangement for a pass rusher with his track record. Injury history was always part of the calculation for San Francisco, but the 49ers may still wind up wondering whether the safer bet on paper was the right one if their front continues to thin out. [Read more 🡒]