The San Francisco 49ers issued a brief comment on July 25 about the Brandon Aiyuk situation. Niners general manager John Lynch noted that the team will continue to keep him on the reserve/left squad list.
“Brandon Aiyuk, I know you guys are going to have a lot of questions. Brandon is on a left squad designation, as such he’s not on our 90-man roster,” Lynch told reporters. “And we as an organization are going to focus on the players that are here… we wish him well, we wish his family well.”
Aiyuk has posted countless videos attacking the Niners and noting his desire to play for the Washington Commanders. However, the wideout hasn’t gone through the process to get himself off the reserve/left squad list with the 2026 NFL season approaching.
Which is why, for Bill Barnwell of ESPN, it would be surprising to see Aiyuk playing for the Commanders at this point.
“It felt inevitable this was going to happen,” Barnwell said during a July 24 appearance on The Team 980. “And now, through Brandon Aiyuk’s own maneuvering, it would seem surprising to me. If he were coming off a 1,500-yard season and looked like the best receiver in football, I think the Commanders would be treating this as an entirely different situation.
“But coming off an ACL injury, we haven’t seen him in over a year. He was inconsistent early in his career with the 49ers. It wasn’t like Kyle Shanahan always saw him as an essential piece of that offense. They even benched him early in his sophomore season. That combination, along with what’s happened publicly, just adds up to a situation where the Commanders feel like, ‘Why are we going to rush into this?’”
Commanders Have Other Options to Pursue at Wideout
Moreover, Barnwell believes that the Commanders should consider other wideouts before giving any serious thought to Aiyuk, who again hasn’t done what’s needed to get off the reserve/left squad list and have the 49ers make a decision, which would likely be cutting him.
“Deebo Samuel is still out there,“ Barnwell added. “Stefon Diggs is still out there. It’s kind of telling when Stefon Diggs is available and you think he’s going to be much less of a headache than Brandon Aiyuk. But that’s probably where the Commanders find themselves now.
“They have other options. They don’t have to go through this for a player they aren’t even confident will be a real difference-maker. It felt like this was inevitable, and now I’d almost be surprised if it did happen. Although I still think that if it happens with anyone, the Commanders would still make the most sense.”
49ers’ Brandon Aiyuk Urged to Stay Offline
Recently, former NFL linebacker Channing Crowder issued a blunt message to Aiyuk to stay offline.
“Shut up,“ Crowder said in a July 18 video from “The Pivot.“ “What’s the point of what he’s doing? Then he wants to go to Jaden. He wants to say, ‘I’m going to sign with the Commanders. ‘ And then he wants to say, ‘Hey, man, you got to defend me. ‘ When a fan yells at you, just be quiet. What’s the point? Why does the new-age athlete have to get out here and do all this stuff on social media?
“… Just shut up, go get that check and play football at a high level. That’s the thing I can’t understand about them. I don’t know what you’re doing or what your angle is… I don’t know if he has an angle on this because it doesn’t make sense. I’m going to badmouth them. I’m going to badmouth the guy I want to go play with. I’m going to badmouth my college teammate. Who’s in your circle?”
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