Brandon Aiyuk Is Feuding With Jayden Daniels Now: The 49ers Trade Saga Just Got Weirder
Brandon Aiyuk has spent months telling anyone who will listen that he wants to be a Washington Commander. Now he is beefing with the Commanders’ quarterback on social media. That is a curious way to close a deal.
Aiyuk posted a video over the weekend that appeared to take direct shots at Jayden Daniels, referencing “5” and clearly using it as a coded reference to Daniels’ jersey number. Given that Aiyuk had previously called himself “the final piece” for Daniels and the Commanders to win a Super Bowl, this was a full 180 that nobody saw coming.
The 49ers have already voided the guaranteed money in Aiyuk’s 2026 contract. San Francisco has, through actions rather than statements, told the other 31 teams that Aiyuk will not play another game for them. His trade value has never been lower. He is 31 years old on paper. He has spent most of the last two seasons rehabbing a knee injury that included tears of both his ACL and MCL suffered in a game against the Chiefs in October 2024. His deal has too much money for a team to absorb him without a real re-negotiation.
The Washington fit was always the sensible landing spot. Aiyuk and Daniels played together at Arizona State. They were reportedly close then. Adding a proven WR1 to Daniels’ offense would have been a natural way to bring Aiyuk to a place where he would be motivated, and where the Commanders’ offense would have had a real second option opposite Terry McLaurin.
Then Aiyuk went and picked a fight with the quarterback he claimed he wanted to play with. That is a specific kind of self-sabotage. The Commanders were already reported as “unlikely” to trade for him because of the contract concerns. Now they have a public reason to walk away entirely. Adam Peters is not bringing in a receiver who is trolling his franchise quarterback on Instagram before Week 1.
The whole Aiyuk situation is one of the more baffling stories of the NFL offseason. This is a player who was a Pro Bowl-caliber wide receiver two years ago. He was one of the most respected route runners in the sport. He had a real case for being a top-10 receiver in the league before his knee blew up. He is now watching his own career slip away because of a combination of injury luck, contract disputes, and self-inflicted damage on his relationships around the league.
The 49ers have very little to gain from keeping him. They have already moved on emotionally. Trent Williams is aging, the offensive line has changed, and the receiver room is younger and more affordable. Whatever locker room capital Aiyuk had in San Francisco is spent.
The realistic options now are trade to a team that does not care about the noise (the Rams? the Broncos?), a quiet release when it becomes clear no team is willing to pay the freight, or a training camp holdout that ends with a fine and a move nobody wants.
Aiyuk had a very clear path to salvaging his career this year. Play well for the 49ers, force a trade to Washington in-season, get healthy, and hit free agency next spring with a real market. Instead, he is Instagram-jabbing his old college teammate.
Nobody is going to trade for that.
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.
