The San Francisco 49ers continue to wait deep into the offseason to officially part ways with disgruntled wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk, which will end a long saga that has drawn out over years now and included plenty of ugly twists and turns along the way.
Aiyuk's story won't end with his Niners tenure, of course. And while there'll be plenty of hesitation on a quick contract offer from other teams, thanks largely to injury concerns his AWOL actions last season, one team stands out far above the rest as a most-likely suitor.
The Washington Commanders.
According to ESPN's John Keim, who covers the Commanders, Washington has been paying close attention to the Aiyuk situation on the opposite coast for months now but has balked at trading away anything to San Francisco to acquire the receiver.
By the looks of it, the Commanders are just waiting to pounce whenever the release transaction has gone official.
Aiyuk, meanwhile, would be more than willing to play along.
Brandon Aiyuk continues to aim for Commanders despite 49ers standoff
Prior to his lucrative (and contentuous) extension entering the 2024 season, Aiyuk didn't subtly hint at a desire to link up with quarterback Jayden Daniels, his former collegiate teammate at ASU who gained exceptional notoriety during his rookie campaign in Washington.
Some of Aiyuk's questionable social media posts during those contract talks even involved Daniels, so it's hard to ignore the connection between the two.
And the likely desire the receiver has to join the Commanders, which only intensified in a recent evaluation of his Instagram account, following his significant other, Daniels and the Commanders:
This further reinforces why Aiyuk was willing to allow the 49ers to void his guarantees for 2026, opting not to fight it through union channels, which was certainly an odd choice. If the 2020 first-round pick felt adamant about getting out from under the Niners' control, then eliminating any obstacles to that happening would have been part of his play.
Now, the lone remaining item is to see if the Commanders quickly pounce after an inevitable release by inking Aiyuk and pairing him with Daniels.
It's probably what Aiyuk wanted all along, and all signs point to it.
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