Has Aiyuk 'burned the bridge' to the Commanders?
Mike Florio details the latest developments concerning Brandon Aiyuk's interest in joining the Washington Commanders following a weekend of trading social media barbs with Jayden Daniels.
Video Transcript
I think what started this was the video that made the rounds of a fan, and apparently Jayden Daniels was at one of the World Cup matches, and he's sitting in a suite, and the fan passes by, and the fan started giving him the business about Brandon Ayuk with some profanity, F Brandon Ayuk.
And when he says it, Daniels starts laughing.
And as the guy keeps going, Daniels thinks the whole thing is funny.
Well, Brandon Ayuk may not have seen the humor in that exchange.
So the skirmish emerged on Saturday between Ayuk and Daniels on social media back and forth, and there's no need to get into the drip drip of it.
But to the extent that Daniels was the bridge that would lead Ayuk to the Washington Commanders, you got to ask yourself whether or not Ayuk has now burned that bridge.
And earlier in the day, I had posted an item regarding whether the Commanders want Brandon Ayuk at all.
And I made two points.
One, the fact that they haven't leaked that they don't is, I think, evidence to suggest they do.
Circumstantial evidence, but circumstantial evidence is good evidence.
They haven't leaked that they don't, and they easily could.
If they just don't want to mess with this, and it's getting ridiculous, and he's doing these videos every day saying he's going to be playing for the Commanders soon, all they got to tell is one of the reporters covering the team, one of the national people who would go straight to Twitter with it.
All they got to say is, we're not interested in Brandon Ayuk.
Until they do, they are.
And Jayden Daniels, who's entering the all-important third year of his rookie contract, he had a great rookie season, offensive rookie of the year.
Last year, injuries marred the season.
They finished five and 12.
This is the, this is the, the break year.
It's going to break 24 or it's going to break 25.
And if it breaks 24, he breaks the bank in the off season.
And when you look at the depth chart, it's Terry McLaurin and Kaylin Burks and Antonio Williams.
Those are the three starters projected by our lads.
Dyami Brown, I wrote an item about him on Sunday because he was just starting to turn the corner.
Third round pick in 2021, 2024 postseason.
He had over 200 receiving yards in three games.
Had, I think, 89 in one and 98 in the other.
I think he had 98 against the Bucs and a touchdown and 89 against the Lions when they upset them.
45 against the Eagles, I believe, in the NFC Championship.
But 220 plus at the end of Jayden Daniels' rookie season.
There's, there's reason for some hope that maybe now that Brown and Daniels are together again after Brown spent 2025 with the Jaguars who had high hopes, but it never panned out.
But that, that's it.
So they would need Brandon Ayuk.
Jayden Daniels needs Brandon Ayuk.
They played together in 2019 at Arizona State, and it looked like that connection And after I posted the item kind of connecting the dots, someone reached out to me and said, "You know, you're onto something here, because if Daniels wants him, they'll sign him.
And they're in a position where they can dictate the terms to Ayuk, because no one else is gonna want him.
One year minimum deal.
And if he causes a single issue on social media, see you later."
The problem is he's caused the issue on social media with Jayden Daniels while he's still on the 49ers reserve left squad list.
So it seems far less likely today than it did the last time we convened that Ayuk is gonna end up with the Commanders.
He's got some damage that he needs to undo, and whether he does it publicly or privately remains to be seen.
And none of it matters until he petitions the league for reinstatement to the roster and shows up for the start of training camp and forces the 49ers to cut him, unless they just decide on their own to cut him from the reserve left squad list.
