Former NFL player shares Antonio Brown warning for Commanders amid Brandon Aiyuk saga

Current San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk isn't hiding that he wants to sign with the Washington Commanders as soon as Thursday. However, there was no indication at the time that the 49ers were close to granting Aiyuk his desired release.

During the latest edition of the "Speakeasy" program, former NFL player and current analyst Emmanuel Acho shared quite a warning for the Commanders and any other team that may want to take a flier on Aiyuk this summer. 

Is Brandon Aiyuk "on an early Antonio Brown trajectory?"

"Brandon Aiyuk is on an early Antonio Brown trajectory without the Antonio Brown talent — and that is my fear," Acho said, per Brendan Howe of Steelers Now. "Antonio Brown had six seasons consecutive like we’ve never seen in the National Football League before, and I’ll remind you all — it wasn’t all of a sudden. It was subtle. What ended up as a flood started out as a puddle. Antonio Brown did not start on Instagram crashing out, no. Antonio Brown just started running around saying 'free me,' calling his grandma — if I’m not mistaken — on Instagram live, cussing out general managers. That’s how it started."

While Brown was once regarded as one of the most talented wide receivers of the 2010s, some may now more so remember him for numerous incidents that had nothing to do with him catching touchdown passes during games. As Acho referenced, Brown once shared an odd video that showed him celebrating being released by the Raiders in 2019. In January 2022, Brown bizarrely completed a midgame exit from the field while with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He never again played in an NFL game. 

As for Aiyuk, he has posted multiple videos on social media over the past handful of weeks in which he has ripped the 49ers and suggested that San Francisco is "scared" to release him and "mad" that the club signed him to a four-year, $120M extension in the summer of 2024. The 49ers voided the remaining guaranteed money attached to that deal because he didn't participate in rehab sessions related to a serious knee injury he suffered in October 2024. 

Aiyuk hasn't played since he went down with the initial setback, and a recent report indicated that the Commanders and other teams have "reservations" about acquiring him via a trade or signing him if he is released shortly after training-camp practices kick off in late July. On Thursday, Vincent Bonsignore of the New York Post wrote that "it’s time for anyone who is close to [Aiyuk] and cares for him to urge him to seriously consider getting help."

Can anybody "reroute" the Brandon Aiyuk airplane?

"Just go to his Instagram, which I’ve blocked, to see how it’s ended. … Now, just because [Aiyuk] is on the trajectory does not mean he will land there. It just means that’s currently the destination that his airplane is on," Acho continued. "Hopefully, we can reroute it."

It remains to be seen if Aiyuk will play in an NFL game later this year or ever again.