Brandon Aiyuk of the San Francisco 49ers ‘Wouldn’t Object to Playing’ for the Washington Commanders

When a quarterback like Jayden Daniels has a best friend in receiver Brandon Aiyuk, it’s natural to speculate about the Washington Commanders potentially reuniting the former Arizona State Sun Devils teammates. Aiyuk’s contract dispute with the San Francisco 49ers further fuels offseason discussions about whether the Commanders might add Aiyuk to their roster.

This topic gained attention during a recent episode of NFL Live, when former player and analyst Ryan Clark provided insights on Aiyuk’s contract situation and Daniels’ indirect involvement.

“They’re actually meeting with the San Francisco 49ers today. Aiyuk and his representation, Ryan Williams of Athletes First, wanted to set up this meeting themselves,” Clark said on Monday. “During a conversation on The Pivot (a podcast co-hosted by Clark), Aiyuk mentioned he’s taking these negotiations personally. He feels affected by how the 49ers have valued him. While he prefers to stay in San Francisco, he’s open to playing elsewhere if traded. Interestingly, when he met with us, he wasn’t alone. First, it was Brandon Aiyuk. Second, it was (Commanders quarterback) Jayden Daniels. This suggests that Aiyuk wouldn’t mind playing in Washington.”

“…the way that that sounds is that Brandon Aiyuk wouldn’t mind playing in Washington.”

– Ryan Clark, on ESPN’s NFL Live

To start, there’s no need to overanalyze Aiyuk and Daniels attending the podcast together; they’re well-known friends and very close. Naturally, Aiyuk wouldn’t mind playing in Washington—what player wouldn’t want to team up with his best friend?

However, a key point arose during the conversation when Adam Schefter shared his insights.

“There were some conversations at one point between the 49ers and the Commanders,” Schefter said. “The Commanders showed interest, but they ultimately didn’t pursue the deal. The 49ers didn’t want to trade Brandon Aiyuk anyway. Despite what Aiyuk might have told Ryan Clark, it’s not true that the 49ers don’t want him back. They absolutely do. According to Clark, they are meeting today with 49ers general manager John Lynch and head coach Kyle Shanahan.”

The fact that Washington and San Francisco had discussions is intriguing because this potential pairing makes a lot of sense—not just due to the Aiyuk and Daniels connection, but also because of the relationship between Lynch and Commanders general manager Adam Peters.

While Schefter highlights that the 49ers want to keep Aiyuk, he also notes that the Commanders aim to build through the NFL Draft. To achieve this, they need to retain as much draft capital as possible, and trading multiple future picks for Aiyuk would undermine that strategy.

Washington is not in a rush; the smart move for Peters is to wait until the situation in San Francisco deteriorates enough to acquire Aiyuk at a lower cost this offseason or simply wait until next offseason when the 49ers are unlikely to franchise tag him. Then we’ll see if Aiyuk really wants to reunite with Daniels.