Commanders, Bills may have interest in 49ers $120 million cut or trade candidate

The Washington Commanders and Buffalo Bills need to search high and low for wide receiver help in 2026.

The Commanders may lose Deebo Samuel in free agency this offseason and that would leave Washington with Terry McLaurin and a bunch of question marks, which obviously isn't ideal for Jayden Daniels.

In Buffalo, the Bills need a true No. 1 target and depth for Josh Allen after Keon Coleman has failed to live up to the hype and Joshua Palmer proved to be a free-agent bust in 2025.

We would expect both teams to have an eye on San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk, who was labeled as a player who needs a change of scenery by ESPN's Aaron Schatz.

"He is still a talented wideout, although his numbers fell substantially in 2024 with just 374 receiving yards," Schatz said. "Aiyuk didn't play last season, but he led the league in receiving DVOA not so long ago, with 75 receptions for 1,342 yards and seven touchdowns in 2023. It will be interesting to see if he can return to something close to that glory with another team in 2026."

Thanks to issues with the team, the Niners voided Aiyuk's guarantees in his $120 million contract.

The wideout then left the team and stopped communicating, and general manager John Lynch has made it quite clear Aiyuk is done in San Francisco.

“I think it’s safe to say he’s played his last snap as a Niner,” Lynch said.

The Niners will likely try to trade Aiyuk first, but given his issues in recent years and the fact that he did not play at all last season after suffering a torn ACL and MCL in 2024, the Niners are going to have a tough time finding a trade partner.

While there is no doubt some risk involved in bringing Aiyuk aboard, the fact he will come cheap will lead to someone taking a chance on him.

We would say the Commanders are more likely to do that than the Bills, as Aiyuk has a connection to Washington through general manager Adam Peters, who was with Aiyuk in San Francisco, and through his former college teammate, Daniels, who was Aiyuk's quarterback at Arizona State in 2019.

We would suspect Daniels will lobby to bring Aiyuk to Washington.

We wouldn't rule the Bills out of a pursuit of Aiyuk, though. Buffalo has a dire need at wide receiver and shouldn't close the door on anyone who is available, no matter the risk involved.

And, with the Bills having limited cap space, and with Aiyuk figuring to garner a small payday, that increases the chances Buffalo will go after him.

At the end of the day, we predict Aiyuk is going to land in Washington.

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