Commanders Clips
In one of his recent social-media videos, 49ers receiver Brandon Aiyuk said he terminated a Standard Representation Agreement with Ryan Williams of Athletes First in November 2025. NFL Players Association records showed that was not the case; the SRA remained active as of Friday night.
It no longer is.
The NFLPA’s online database currently shows that Aiyuk is not represented. Per the NFLPA, the SRA was terminated on Saturday.
Aiyuk’s next step should be to promptly petition the league office for reinstatement from the reserve/left squad list. Once that happens, Aiyuk will be in position to show up for training camp, which most likely would prompt the 49ers to immediately release him.
Yes, Aiyuk has said he won’t return to the 49ers until the Commanders play at Levi’s Stadium on October 19. Unless the 49ers plan to release him from the reserve/left squad list, a cameo appearance at the substation-adjacent practice facility will be needed to secure his status as a free agent.
Receiver Brandon Aiyuk continues to not do the things he needs to do set the stage for his release from the 49ers. He’s still doing the thing that isn’t advancing his interests.
Aiyuk has posted more videos regarding his status with the 49ers, and his desire to play for the Commanders. The latest series of videos in his Instagram story, which currently is empty, included verbal assaults against 49ers G.M. John Lynch, 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan, and Aiyuk’s agent of record, Ryan Williams.
Aiyuk also vowed that he won’t return to the 49ers’ facility until October 19, when the Commanders play at Levi’s Stadium.
Aiyuk has not officially fired Williams, even though Aiyuk has insisted in multiple videos posted since Friday that he has. Aiyuk also has not petitioned the league for reinstatement from the reserve/left squad list. Until he does, he can’t force the 49ers to release him by showing up for training camp.
The 49ers could, in theory, release him from the reserve/left squad list. They’ve shown no inclination to do so.
Unless the 49ers release him, nothing will change until Aiyuk files a petition for reinstatement — and until he shows up for training camp. The 49ers likely won’t want him to work out or practice, since a season-ending injury would put them on the hook for more than $26 million in 2026 compensation that currently is not guaranteed.
Instead of posting videos, Aiyuk should be filing paperwork. If he wants to fire his agent, he needs to submit the form with the NFL Players Association that ends the relationship. And, if Aiyuk wants to return to pro football, he needs to file a petition for reinstatement.
Receiver Brandon Aiyuk has posted a new video. This one has nothing to do with his current team (the 49ers) or the team he hopes to join (the Commanders).
In the new video, Aiyuk claims he doesn’t have an agent — and hasn’t had one for months.
“Also, I do not have an agent,” Aiyuk said. “I terminated my SRA with my previous agent through the NFLPA last year in November.”
The NFLPA player-agent database available to the media shows that Ryan Williams of Athletes First represents Aiyuk. Typically, when a player terminates his Standard Representation Agreement, the database reflects that.
We’ve confirmed that the information in the NFLPA’s database is accurate.
Aiyuk not thinking he has an agent would explain his failure to follow his agent’s advice. Surely, Williams has not advised him to handle the situation the way he has.
As explained earlier, Aiyuk (who is on the reserve/left squad list) must petition the league for reinstatement. Once reinstated, he needs to show up for training camp. At that point, the 49ers would likely cut him.
Until he is reinstated and shows up, the 49ers have no reason to do anything.
And if Aiyuk isn’t getting advice from an agent in that regard, someone in his orbit needs to tell him that his pathway to free agency is that simple. One, petition for reinstatement. Two, show up.
It has become very well established that receiver Brandon Aiyuk wants the 49ers to release him, so that he can sign with the Commanders. He can make that happen by showing up for training camp and saying, “I’m ready to work.”
The 49ers undoubtedly would cut him in lieu of letting him risk popping an Achilles tendon on the practice field or dropping a dumbbell onto his foot in the weight room. A season-ending injury would result in the 49ers owing him his full compensation for 2026 in excess of $26 million. (Currently, not a penny of it is guaranteed.)
But it’s not as simple as Aiyuk walking through the front door. He remains on the reserve/left squad list. By rule, he must apply for reinstatement with the league. Once he’s reinstated (it’s presumably automatic — but we thought applying for the supplemental draft was automatic, too), he can show up and secure his release.
Aiyuk has a simple way to put the 49ers in checkmate. One, submit the petition for reinstatement. Two, once reinstatement is granted, show up.
It’s that easy. It would take minutes to get it started. All he has to do is start it.
Zach Ertz said in April that he does not want last season’s torn ACL to be the final act of his NFL career and said he has “eyes wide open” to the need to show he’s healthy in order to find a place to play in 2026.
Ertz gave an update on his health during an appearance on the New Heights podcast this week. Ertz was injured in Week 14 and said the process of getting back to full strength is ongoing.
“We’re in a good spot. We’re like five, almost six months now from surgery,” Ertz said. “Just training every day, doing everything I can to get back to where I was. It’s a long process. There’s some long days, there’s some long weeks, some long months . . . it’s tough, but we’re just trying to stack these days right now.”
Ertz had 50 catches for 504 yards and four touchdowns for the Commanders last season and teams will likely start looking into how close he is to that form a bit later this summer.
When it comes to Brandon Aiyuk’s slowly-growing collection of ill-advised social media videos, some feel comfortable jumping to conclusions about his mental health. I’ve got a far more pragmatic question.
Who’s advising him?
Per NFL Players Association records, Aiyuk continues to be represented by Ryan Williams of Athletes First. Aiyuk’s online antics (most recently, he posted a video in which he wears a Commanders hat and say’s he’ll be “back on tour this fall,” before directing viewers to go to “www.Commanders.com to get your tickets and watch us rock out”) are creating a bad impression.
Either Aiyuk is doing this on the advice of his agent, or he’s acting against his agent’s advice. If it’s the latter, at what point does the agent fire the player?
In 2020, agent Drew Rosenhaus severed ties with receiver Antonio Brown at a time when Brown had been acting erratically and irrationally. Shouldn’t Williams do the same with Aiyuk, if Williams has been telling Aiyuk to knock it off with the videos and he keeps doing it?
It’s possible, in theory, that Aiyuk is implementing a deliberate strategy aimed at getting himself released by the 49ers, so that he can sign elsewhere. Even so, there’s no subtlety whatsoever regarding his desire to play for the Commanders. Which surely makes the Commanders uncomfortable.
If Aiyuk is simply going rogue on a regular basis, why wouldn’t Williams cut him loose? It would be frustrating to continue to tell a client to not do something that he continues to do.
For now, Aiyuk continues to make it clear that he wants to join the Commanders. Even if no one knows that the Commanders even want him.
Brandon Aiyuk is back at it.
The 49ers receiver has posted (and apparently deleted) another video to his Instagram story. The latest video included no overt references to the 49ers, the Commanders, or any other team.
In it, Aiyuk enters a closet that is empty, except for a backpack on a shelf. He opens it and begins pulling out cash and throwing it on the floor.
Eventually, he closes the backpack, puts it over his shoulders, and leaves.
The video, as of this posting, is gone from Aiyuk’s Instagram page.
Aiyuk has posted several videos in recent weeks. At least two of them attacked the 49ers. (Those have been deleted.) More recently, he has posted videos in which he praises the Commanders and expresses an interest in signing with them.
He continues to be under contract with the 49ers. They face no decisions about Aiyuk until training camp opens — if Aiyuk reports. At that point, they’ll have to decide whether to let him practice, trade him, or cut him.
If Aiyuk practices and suffers a season-ending injury, the 49ers will owe him more than $26 million for 2026.
It’s unknown whether the Commanders are interested in Aiyuk. He and quarterback Jayden Daniels were teammates at Arizona State in 2019.
The dates for the 2027 NFL Draft have been set.
The NFL announced that the first round of the draft will be held on Thursday, April 29. The second and third rounds will be held the next day and the final four rounds of the draft will be conducted on May 1.
Washington D.C. will be serving as the host city for the draft for the first time. Events are set to be held around the city with the main draft stage on the National Mall.
The NFL has awarded the 2028 Draft to Minneapolis and the Bengals have engaged in conversations with the league about Cincinnati hosting the 2029 edition.
49ers receiver Brandon Aiyuk continues to make it known that he wants to play for the Commanders.
His current Instagram story includes a video of Aiyuk holding an NFL football with a Commanders logo on it. A graphic on the video says, “The best sport in the world. The best league in the world [and] the best team in the world.”
Another video in the story has Aiyuk saying this: “And if I’m crazy or if I’m cappin’, tell them boys cut me today. And I’ll sign with the Commanders tomorrow.”
At some point, it’s fair to ask whether Aiyuk is simply expressing a keen interest in playing for the Commanders, or whether he’s revealing that communications with the Commanders have occurred. Absent permission from the 49ers to talk to other teams about a possible trade, any discussions between Aiyuk or his agent and Commanders representatives could be viewed as tampering.
Of course, tampering happens all the time. The NFL rarely enforces the rule.
Often, the rule is enforced when the evidence of tampering is blatant. Aiyuk’s comments could be viewed as such, if the league decides to look into it — or if the 49ers complain.
Aiyuk remains under contract for 2026, with a non-guaranteed salary of more than $26 million. It’s believed that the 49ers will release Aiyuk, if he shows up for training camp.
He could have forced the issue by showing up for the offseason program. He didn’t.
Tight end Chig Okonkwo signed with the Commanders after posting 162 catches for the Titans the last three seasons and he believes the move is going to be a fruitful one for him.
While Okonkwo was productive in Tennessee, he’s already found “so many more opportunities I’ve had to just run different things” since joining the Commanders and thinks that the offense being put together by offensive coordinator David Blough will allow him to showcase “my true talents and abilities.”
“I feel like this is the place where I can finally just unleash,” Okonkwo said, via the team’s website.
Jayden Daniels made frequent use of Zach Ertz as a target during the 2024 season, so he’s no stranger to throwing to tight ends and it sounds like the expectation in Washington will be for more of the same despite the change in play callers since the end of the 2025 campaign.
