Brandon Aiyuk is stuck.
The Commanders signed Stefon Diggs to a multi-year deal on Wednesday, effectively ending months of speculation about a potential trade or free agent signing that would send Aiyuk from San Francisco to Washington. The Aiyuk-to-Commanders saga had dragged on since last winter, and it finally ended in the way nobody expected: Washington just moved on to a different receiver.
Now the 49ers have a player nobody seems to want and no obvious path to a resolution.
The whole situation has been strange from the start. Aiyuk tore his ACL and MCL in October 2024, just months after signing a four-year, $120 million contract. He refused to rehab with the 49ers, went to work with his own trainers instead, and the team voided his guaranteed money in response. San Francisco has been trying to figure out what to do with him ever since.
The Commanders were the obvious landing spot for months. Aiyuk publicly said “Go Commanders” on social media. He posted footage of himself watching Washington practice film. He clearly wanted to play in the DMV, and the Commanders had cap space and a real need at receiver. Everyone in football assumed a deal would happen at some point.
It never did. The 49ers wanted Washington to trade for Aiyuk. Washington wanted San Francisco to release Aiyuk so they could sign him for less. Neither side blinked. The Commanders finally pulled the plug on the whole thing by signing Diggs instead.
Now what?
The 49ers can release Aiyuk. That is the cleanest path forward. It costs them nothing, opens a roster spot, and gets a player who does not want to be there out of the building. Aiyuk becomes an unrestricted free agent, and he can sign wherever he wants.
The problem is that his market has shrunk with every team addition around the league. Washington is out. The Steelers already have DK Metcalf. The Ravens have their receivers. The Chiefs are set. The teams most desperate for a receiver at this point in the offseason are the Broncos, the Titans, and maybe the Panthers, and none of them are contenders.
San Francisco could also try to trade him for a mid-round pick, but nobody is going to give up real value for a receiver who has not played in a year and does not want to be traded to their team. The trade market is dead.
The most likely outcome is that Aiyuk sits until the 49ers either release him or reach some kind of quiet settlement that lets him go elsewhere. This is not going to end well for anyone.
The waste of talent is what stings. Aiyuk was one of the best receivers in the NFL when healthy. He was Kyle Shanahan’s most reliable target. He put up 1,342 yards in 2023 and looked like a legitimate top-10 receiver in the league. Now he is a cautionary tale about how quickly things can go sideways.
The 49ers are moving on with Ricky Pearsall, Jauan Jennings, and rookie Jordan Watkins. That is a workable receiver room, but it is not the group they thought they would have when they gave Aiyuk that contract.
Aiyuk will play football again. Where and when is the entire question.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.
