Jan. 25, 2026, 6:31 a.m. ET
There has been talk of San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk going to the Washington Commanders for two years now. Aiyuk is close friends with Commanders quarterback Jayden Daniels and the two have made it clear they’d like to reunite in the NFL.
However, Aiyuk agreed to a lucrative four-year extension just before the 2024 NFL season began. The talks on Aiyuk in Washington appeared to be over. Then, this season happened. After tearing his ACL and MCL in October 2024, Aiyuk missed all of 2025 and ghosted the 49ers during the rehab process. In return, the Niners voided Aiyuk’s 2026 guarantees.
During his season-ending press conference this week, 49ers GM John Lynch made it clear that he and San Francisco were done with Aiyuk.
“I think it’s safe to say that he’s played his last snap with the Niners,” Lynch said, via Nick Wagoner of ESPN.
“It’s unfortunate. A situation that just went awry. And I will look long and hard at what could have been done differently, but sometimes it just doesn’t work out. And I think that this was a case where that happened.”
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It didn’t take long for Aiyuk to be linked to the Commanders again.
In a piece for ESPN, Bill Barnwell previewed the upcoming veteran class of wide receivers. He looked at free agents, potential cap casualties, trade candidates and more. Here’s a portion of what he said about Aiyuk.
Aiyuk might be released or need to renegotiate that deal before landing somewhere else. One obvious landing spot is Washington, where the Commanders employ former 49ers executive Adam Peters and have an opening in their lineup at wide receiver with Deebo Samuel hitting free agency. Aiyuk was Jayden Daniels’ teammate at Arizona State, too. But even for a team with a quarterback on a rookie deal, $27 million would be a big ask for a player who hasn’t played since the middle of 2024.
No one is trading for Aiyuk and his current contract. The 49ers know that. It also doesn’t help that Aiyuk is coming off a significant knee injury. San Francisco is just ready to move on. So is Aiyuk.
The Commanders know Aiyuk. In addition to Daniels, GM Adam Peters was in San Francisco when the 49ers selected Aiyuk with a first-round pick in the 2020 NFL Draft. That could be good and bad. Peters would certainly call his old team, with whom he still has close relationships, to find out what went wrong. What if he chooses to opt for someone less risky to help Daniels and wide receiver Terry McLaurin?
Aiyuk should be plenty motivated after losing so much money. He probably knows he’ll likely be on a short-term, prove-it deal with his next team. It will be interesting to see if the Commanders get involved once Aiyuk is available.