Brandon Aiyuk’s path toward Washington has turned into a self-made headache, and ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler says the league is noticing.
The San Francisco 49ers wide receiver has already drawn attention for his posts aimed at Commanders quarterback Jayden Daniels, and now that latest move has only deepened the skepticism around him. Whether it was meant as trolling or something more serious, Fowler’s read is that people around the league are not buying the optics.
Citing conversations with teams, Fowler said Aiyuk is making it harder to land another opportunity once his release from the 49ers becomes official.
“He continues to nuke his job prospects at this point. I’ve talked to several teams about Brandon Aiyuk, trying to give him the benefit of the doubt.
Is there any sort of sound strategy he’s employing here? And they can’t think of anything other than this is just sort of insensible.”
That’s the heart of the issue now: Aiyuk had a chance to stay quiet, and instead he kept adding fuel to the fire. His Instagram beef with Daniels - who could have been one of the clearest allies in helping him get to Washington - did him no favors.
Some around the league still think the Commanders could be part of the endgame. Others believe Washington should move on and look elsewhere for receiver help. General manager Adam Peters has not shown his hand, and the team won’t until Aiyuk is actually released.
Even with that uncertainty, the risk is obvious. If Aiyuk is willing to create this kind of noise now, teams have to wonder what happens when things stop going his way. And that question gets louder when you consider he has not played a competitive down since Week 7 of the 2024 season.
Aiyuk and Daniels were, maybe still are, close. If this was all just trolling, Washington remains in the picture. If there’s real meaning behind it, then the Commanders may have already been pushed out of the conversation.
At this point, the truth is still murky. What isn’t murky is that Aiyuk has made his situation look worse, not better.
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