The Washington Commanders looked like they were turning into the NFL’s next Super Bowl contender when they reached the NFC championship game during the 2024 season. Quarterback Jayden Daniels, then a rookie, had a sensational season, and new head coach Dan Quinn was reviving a long-dormant franchise.
But Washington fell hard this past season and won just five games. Granted, Daniels played in just seven games due to injury, but his play greatly regressed, and it is now clear that the team needs some help on both sides of the football.
There was some hope that San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk would land with the Commanders after ESPN’s Nick Wagoner tweeted earlier this month that they were his most likely landing spot if he were to be released. Aiyuk injured his ACL in October 2024, a few months after staging a hold-in during training camp in order to receive a contract extension, and both sides have accepted that it’s time to move on.
But, according to ESPN’s John Keim, if the Niners don’t release Aiyuk and instead look to get something for him on the trade market, Washington is unlikely to give them a call about him.
“Multiple team sources said Washington is well aware of Aiyuk’s desire to play with Daniels,” Keim wrote. “But Aiyuk remains under contract and the Commanders would be unlikely to trade for him or, when free, sign him to anything other than a one-year, prove-it deal.”
The breaking point for the 49ers seemed to come when Aiyuk didn’t show up for rehab appointments following his injury. He also got into an argument with head coach Kyle Shanahan during practice. The team ended up voiding the guaranteed money in his contract for the 2026 season this past November, and in January, general manager John Lynch said it’s safe to say that Aiyuk has “played his last snap with the Niners.”
If Aiyuk has recovered well enough from the knee injury he suffered 17 months ago, he could still have the ability to lift the Commanders. In 2023, his last healthy season, he made 75 catches and posted 1,342 receiving yards and seven touchdowns, and his 17.9 yards per reception were second in the NFL.
The Commanders were 22nd in points scored, 24th in passing yards and 26th in passing touchdowns last season. Wide receiver Terry McLaurin, who has long been their top weapon, broke a string of five straight 1,000-yard seasons by ending with 582 yards in 10 games. Wideout Deebo Samuel led them with 727 receiving yards and five receiving touchdowns, but many expect him to leave this offseason, as he’s now a free agent.
The interesting tell here is that Aiyuk was teammates with Daniels in college at Arizona State University in 2019 when Daniels was a freshman starter for the Sun Devils. Aiyuk, who turned 28 years of age on Tuesday, could be the man to help make the Commanders competitive again and help Daniels return to form if he’s fully healthy, spry and ready to be committed again to football.
But it looks like they may not want to give anything up for a man who only had 374 yards on 25 catches in 2024 after receiving his four-year, $120 million contract extension and before tearing his ACL and MCL.
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