The San Francisco 49ers are sticking to their position of trying to trade Brandon Aiyuk instead of releasing him. The wideout is viewed as a possible fit for the Washington Commanders, especially because of his past connection with Jayden Daniels from their time at Arizona State.
Despite the Niners taking this stance, former NFL player Emmanuel Acho believes no team should be lining up to trade for or even sign Aiyuk if San Francisco decides to release him.
“Hell no [teams shouldn’t want Aiyuk],” Acho said on the April 27 edition of “Speak Easy.” “Brandon Aiyuk hasn’t shown us that he still wants to play football. BA is a really, really good wide receiver. To me, he was a top-12 wide receiver at his height.
“But at the end of the day, if you quit on a team like the San Francisco 49ers, it probably has the best vibes in football over the last six seasons since Kyle Shanahan has shown up there. If you can quit on your brothers, who can’t you quit on?”
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Moreover, Acho went into detail on why it wouldn’t make sense for any team to pursue Aiyuk, given that he let some prominent 49ers players down with his actions last season.
“It’s one thing if you go to a place and you quit on a team where the vibes are putrid, no chance at winning, losing organization. But you quit on a San Francisco 49ers team that perennially goes to the playoffs, a team that’s led by its locker room, led by its players, led by its Brock Purdy, its Trent Williams, its Fred Warner.
“Trent Williams wants to play football and he’s like 38 years old and BA, you not trying to play and you in your prime, it does not make sense. You cannot force someone to love the game of football.”
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Aiyuk wasn’t motivated to be part of a team looking to contend and Acho also notes that money wasn’t a motivating factor for the wideout to get back on the field last season. As a result, he’s likely warning contending teams to let someone else take a chance on him.
“If money cannot convince Brandon Aiyuk to love the game of football, and money is the greatest love language in all of football, then nothing can convince Brandon Aiyuk to love the game of football. So, for my money, nah, I wouldn’t want to touch Brandon Aiyuk, not right now.
“Let somebody else take a chance on BA. Let somebody else throw him a $4.5 million deal with incentives worth up to $9 million, and if he balls, I’ll think about it. But there ain’t no way right now.”
Since coming into the NFL in 2020, Aiyuk has had 294 catches for 4,305 yards and has scored 27 touchdowns, per StatMuse. It will be interesting to see if it’s the Commanders or another team that decides that they want to take a gamble on Aiyuk, whether they end up trading for him or waiting out the 49ers to release him.
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