49ers insider shares more bad news for Brandon Aiyuk

San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk and Washington Commanders quarterback Jayden Daniels may no longer be as close as they were when they were teammates at Arizona State, as the two seemed to recently take shots at each other via social media. 

For a video shared on his YouTube page on Sunday, 49ers insider Matt Maiocco of NBC Sports Bay Area painted a gloomy picture regarding Aiyuk's playing future. 

Brandon Aiyuk may be "talking his way out of the NFL"

"I kind of feel like, at this point, he’s talking his way out of the NFL," Maiocco said about Aiyuk, per Eduardo Razo of Heavy. "The one thing is that he’s been saying he’s going to be with the Commanders, that he’s going to sign with the Commanders the next day after the 49ers release him. I never really thought that was anywhere near 100 percent. Who knows? It might happen. It still might happen, but the odds of that happening took a precipitous drop."

Maiocco is hardly the first noteworthy member of the NFL community to suggest that Aiyuk has repeatedly done himself no favors with what he has said in numerous videos that he has posted on social media over the past month and a half or so. He hasn't played an in-game snap since he suffered a serious knee injury in October 2024, and the 49ers voided the remaining guaranteed money attached to his contract because he didn't participate in rehab sessions related to his setback.

As Pro Football Talk's Mike Florio and others have said for weeks, there is no sign that the 49ers will release Aiyuk before he petitions the league for reinstatement from the reserve/left squad list and then shows up for training camp. Even if Aiyuk goes down such a road, it's unclear if the Commanders will immediately scoop him up whenever he becomes available. 

Will Jayden Daniels veto the Commanders acquiring Brandon Aiyuk?

"If Brandon Aiyuk wants to be on the Washington Commanders, he’s going to have to follow the rules of Jayden Daniels," Maiocco continued. "Jayden Daniels could veto that in a heartbeat. If (Commanders general manager) Adam Peters or (head coach) Dan Quinn were leaning toward signing Brandon Aiyuk or showing interest in Brandon Aiyuk, and Jayden Daniels doesn’t give it a 100 percent thumbs up, it’s not happening." 

Perhaps Daniels and Aiyuk were simply "trolling" or having fun with their latest social-media antics. If not, however, Aiyuk may find that there isn't much of a market for his services whenever he and the 49ers finalize their expected divorce.