This Brandon Aiyuk update has less to do with plans of the San Francisco 49ers holding onto him for as long as possible or a strange warrant for the wide receiver’s arrest. This nugget comes from where a lot of Brandon Aiyuk overreactions stem from: social media.
Aiyuk posted a pair of selfies on his Instagram story wearing a Washington Commanders hat. Take a look, and we’ll continue:
The second post has some text that NBC Sports Bay Area translated it to: “Stop the cap, the gig is up!”
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Aiyuk linked to the Commanders is nothing new. During his contract disputes in 2024, it was speculated that the ideal outcome would be to reunite with Commanders quarterback Jayden Daniels. Daniels’ first year at Arizona State was also Aiyuk’s last before the latter went to the NFL.
The last time we’ve had such controversial hat takes dates back to then-49ers starting quarterback Colin Kaepernick wearing a Miami Dolphins hat. Both Kaepernick and Aiyuk were under contract when their respective social media stories hit, and both received very different overreactions.
Something more relevant is the Pittsburgh Steelers drama with Antonio Brown. 2019 was Antonio Brown watch, and the 49ers were a possible destination should the Steelers trade him. Brown made the decision easy with an (incomplete) 10-question AMA that some might still be trying to translate to this day, followed by a move to Instagram demanding everyone call him Mr. Big Chest.
We’re quite a bit away from hitting Mr. Big Chest levels of obnoxiousness here. We could also overanalyze two Instagram stories with a different NFL Team’s hat on, but we’ve gone down this road before, and odds are we usually get it wrong.
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It’s been documented how difficult a Brandon Aiyuk trade could be, given his contract. The 49ers have no reason to release him until later this summer, once the league has installed their offenses with the players on their roster.
That doesn’t mean we can’t overanalyze anyway. Do you take anything from this? Or is this another instance of Brandon Aiyuk going Brandon Aiyuk?
