Brandon Aiyuk unfollowed his best friend, Washington Commanders quarterback Jayden Daniels, on Instagram last Saturday. By the next day, half the league was arguing about whether that friendship ever mattered in the first place, and the other half spoke of Aiyuk going scorched earth against everything around him. Then, NFL insider Benjamin Allbright stepped in and told everyone to relax.

“You all are getting played by a fake BA/JD beef, it’s all an act,” Allbright wrote on X.

Aiyuk, the 28-year-old wide receiver for the San Francisco 49ers, has spent weeks airing grievances about his team, while hinting that Washington is his next stop. Saturday’s swipe at Jayden Daniels would have fit that same pattern, except this time the target was the one quarterback who could actually pull him into that locker room.

A viral clip recently made round of the internet where a 49ers fan found Daniels at a World Cup match, went up to him screaming anti-Aiyuk chants while the quarterback simply laughed. That didn’t sit well with Aiyuk, who believed his former Arizona State teammate would have defended him.

“TF always so funny lil n****. Turn your savage up,” Aiyuk fired off in an Instagram story that was only the beginning of it public feud between the two. Aiyuk followed that story up with another video, taking another shot at Daniels, and even bringing his mother into the conversation.

“‘5’ gonna text me talking about some, ‘You’re on my team now. You follow my rules.’ Boy, I’m a grown-a** man, boy. You gonna have to start running behind your momma, and I might believe what you talking about. But until then…” Aiyuk ended the video by taking a sip from a glass and shaking his head ‘no’.

Daniels saw that, but didn’t write back. He posted a screengrab of Kevin Durant, a known Commanders fan, giving a thumbs-down to a fan. Aiyuk wasn’t done. He added another Instagram post – a GIF of himself holding up shoes, paired with a caption calling for both of them to stay healthy and it together:

“Let’s Run it 5!” Aiyuk wrote. “Let’s see ! Need you available all son and I’ll do the same !”

Now, if Aiyuk has proven one thing this offseason, this is not the end of his relentless social media campaign against everyone around him – his team, his coach, his general manager, and even his old college quarterback. But does this help him as he waits for an invite to the capital?

Aiyuk lost all his 2026 guarantees when the Niners voided his guarantees last season. Back in January, Niners general manager John Lynch had already made it clear that Aiyuk had “played his last snap with the Niners.” Now, he just sits in limbo as Washington decides whether it wants Aiyuk lining up opposite Terry McLaurin or not.

NFL insider Ian Rapoport had noted back in June that the Commanders would prefer to sign Aiyuk outright without executing a trade, but San Fran would want a deal. Now, with Aiyuk’s latest digs at Daniels, ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler has called him out for hurting his career.

“He continues to nuke his job prospects at this point,” Fowler said on SportsCenter. “I’ve talked to several teams about Brandon Aiyuk, trying to give him the benefit of the doubt. Is there any sort of sound strategy he’s employing here? And they can’t think of anything other than this is just sort of insensible.”

But Benjamin Allbright’s take goes against all of it. He believes the internet is just reacting to a narrative Aiyuk and Daniels are building, and it’s not really a falling out. Brandon Aiyuk, meanwhile, hasn’t been released, hasn’t filed for reinstatement, and still doesn’t have an agent. Real or staged, the leverage game keeps playing out in captions and memes while the only thing that really matters – a roster spot – remains untouched.