Brandon Aiyuk hasn’t hidden his desire to play for the Washington Commanders alongside his former teammate, Jayden Daniels. What he also hasn’t shied away from is taking shots at the San Francisco 49ers in multiple social media posts while trying to find a new team. That’s exactly why his latest Instagram post, in which he called the 49ers “stupid,” prompted former Washington offensive lineman Mark Schlereth to label Aiyuk dumb, as he doesn’t want the receiver playing for the Commanders.

“How stupid is this guy? Seriously, how dumb is Aiyuk?” Wondered Schlereth. “You can’t be any dumber than this dude. He put out on his social media platform that the 49ers are just mad. I’m paraphrasing, ‘they just stupid because they already gave me $50 million.’ Who in their right mind would put that out there on social media when you’re trying to find another team that’s vying for your services?

“I don’t need that turd on my team. He ended up getting paid, quit showing up to rehab, ended up taking $50 million dollars and then he’s calling the team that gave him $50 million dollars stupid for giving him $50 million dollars. You think everybody is gonna lineup and trade for you now?”

Aiyuk is under contract with the 49ers through the 2028 season after he signed a four-year, $120 million contract extension in 2024. However, the 28-year-old hasn’t played a single game since Week 7 of the 2024 season. Meanwhile, the front office has already forfeited his 2026 guaranteed money and expressed its intention to let him go.

“I think it’s safe to say that he’s played his last snap with the Niners,” Lynch said earlier in January this year. “It’s unfortunate. A situation that just went awry. And I will look long and hard at what could have been done differently, but sometimes it just doesn’t work out. And I think that this was a case where that happened.”

However, Aiyuk recently took a dig at his team when he called the Niners “Stupid” for paying him $50 million.

“You want to know why they really mad, though?” He said. “They mad ’cause they stupid. They dumb. They mad that they paid me $50 million in eight months and then voided my guarantees for 2027. And I’m about to be on a new team in 2027. They mad at themselves for real. They acting like they mad at me, but they stupid ass mad at themselves.”

Aiyuk was talking about the Niners voiding his 2026 guarantees and not 2027 over his absence from the team facility during rehab. While it’s not clear whether the 49ers are mad at Aiyuk or themselves, it’s clear that the team wants to part ways with Aiyuk. But they’re delaying the procedure due to multiple reasons.

For starters, San Francisco wants compensation in exchange for Aiyuk via a trade. At the same time, however, no team wants to trade for the veteran wide receiver, considering his $24.9 million option bonus due in September 2026. If any team exercises its option bonus, the money spreads through 2030—a long-term commitment after his career-threatening injury.

Meanwhile, if the team didn’t exercise his option bonus, it’d count against the salary cap immediately. That would increase his $1.2 million base salary to over $26 million, with Aiyuk scheduled to earn $27.2 million in 2027 and $29.15 million in 2028. Yet his social media rants may override any Washington interest, despite his recent Commanders gear hint.

This week, before calling the 49ers stupid, Aiyuk took to his social media handle and noted that the 49ers are “scared” of letting him go. And that was the first time Mark Schlereth ripped apart Brandon Aiyuk for his behavior.

“Here’s a little piece of advice for you. You are exactly where you are because of the shitty decisions that you’ve made,” the NFL legend said. “You are not a victim. It is not anybody else’s fault. The San Francisco 49ers didn’t conspire against you to ruin your career. You are where you are because of your stupidity. Just admit it, embrace it, and move forward with it.”

Ever since his injury in 2024, things have been worse for Aiyuk, and ghosting the 49ers hasn’t helped either. Even before the injury, the WR wasn’t producing any elite numbers. He averaged 58.5 receiving yards per game with no touchdowns in the first six games before he was sidelined. Aiyuk kept missing rehab sessions and avoided communicating with the team, according to the 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan.

“I’d say it officially stopped for me when the last time I tried to get ahold of him and couldn’t, and then tried a couple more times and still couldn’t,” Shanahan said in January. “And then that matched everyone else who was trying to get a hold of him to come in. And eventually, there’s not much of an explanation because it’s really hard for us and anyone else to understand, and that’s why it’s something I’ve never seen in 22 years of coaching. It’s unfortunate, and it’s confusing because it’s confusing for all of us, but it eventually becomes ‘it is what it is.'”

So, that’s where things currently stand for Brandon Aiyuk. Both San Francisco and Aiyuk want the same outcome. But his contract structure, the team’s desire to gain draft capital, and the receiver’s social media rants all seem to be discouraging other teams from making a move for him.