The 2026 Free Agency Thread

[DogofWar1]

49ers placed WR Brandon Aiyuk on the reserve/left squad list.
If you’re not familiar with the reserve/left squad list, that’s okay, it is something typically reserved for players about to retire. The awkward saga between Aiyuk and the 49ers appears to be ending in a messy divorce, with the recent move by the team all but ensuring the two sides split in the coming offseason. The transaction also officially ends Aiyuk’s 2025 season before it began. Stay tuned through the offseason

NFL Player News

Find all the latest fantasy football news, reports, transactions, videos, predictions, and more right here on NBC Sports - Rotoworld.

www.nbcsports.com

Theory that there's a handshake deal to release him cleanly in exchange for him not contesting guaranteed money seems to be holding on.

 

[method man]

Sure, before the injury but can he do this afterwards?

49ers placed WR Brandon Aiyuk on the reserve/left squad list.
If you’re not familiar with the reserve/left squad list, that’s okay, it is something typically reserved for players about to retire. The awkward saga between Aiyuk and the 49ers appears to be ending in a messy divorce, with the recent move by the team all but ensuring the two sides split in the coming offseason. The transaction also officially ends Aiyuk’s 2025 season before it began. Stay tuned through the offseason

NFL Player News

Find all the latest fantasy football news, reports, transactions, videos, predictions, and more right here on NBC Sports - Rotoworld.

www.nbcsports.com

The league insiders are starting to point to here as the destination citing league sources. I think AP will absolutely have interest. It’s been forgotten there were trade discussions a couple offseason ago when Aiyuk had the trade request. I believe they wanted Terry + a pick and we said no

 

[Gooseneck]

https://www.spotrac.com/nfl/free-agents

Ranking the best NFL free agents for 2026: Our early top-25 list, plus who might re-sign

We listed the NFL's top 25 pending free agents -- including Daniel Jones and George Pickens -- and gave intel on who might return to their current team.

www.espn.com

Ranking the 50 Best NFL Free Agents Available in 2026

While this class is short on big names, there is more boom than bust for this potential crop of players, including only two quarterbacks.

www.si.com

 

[Bulldog]

I hope Peters doesn’t chase any more former SF players.

We already signed former #1 pick Javon Kinlaw and gave him a long term deal.

We just signed former #2 pick Drake Jackson to see if we can resurrect his career.

I want to see us do the work on other teams players and not simply rely on scouting of 49ers players from 3-4 years ago.

Aiyuk will be 28 in the offseason and he is still not fully ready to play.

We have had enough injured players here over the past year plus.

We don’t need to import them.

 

[method man]

I hope Peters doesn’t chase any more former SF players.

We already signed former #1 pick Javon Kinlaw and gave him a long term deal.

We just signed former #2 pick Drake Jackson to see if we can resurrect his career.

I want to see us do the work on other teams players and not simply rely on scouting of 49ers players from 3-4 years ago.

Aiyuk will be 28 in the offseason and he is still not fully ready to play.

We have had enough injured players here over the past year plus.

We don’t need to import them.

Do you see all ex 49ers? He is looking elsewhere. Luvu, Tunsil, Allegretti, Biadasz, Jacob Martin, Brown, Ertz, Wise, Jon Jones, Bobby and Lattimore all key guys he acquired from other teams for better or worse. Kinlaw, McNichols, Deebo and Jackson are his only ex Niners. All three guys are performing better than in recent years here. Jackson is a guy making the minimum who they hope to unearth as a diamond in the rough

Heck, in retrospect, he should’ve gone hard after DJ Reed and Hufanga, two of his former picks with the Niners.

This line of reasoning just doesn’t fly, It’s not Ron bringing in every far past washed up 33 year old here from a Carolina franchise on the downswing

Aiyuk has had one major injury in his career and is likely ready to go next year. Before this year, he missed 5 of a possible 67 games.

If you know his game, you know he is an elite route runner who has excelled in the slot when he has played there. If his athleticism has been diminished some, he can still be a very effective player from there

 

[DWinzit]

I was really hoping they would bring Hufanga in last year. He felt like a good replacement for Chinn. I do however see why Bulldog is concerned he is looking at SF first. On the other hand, they do have a lot of talent unlike Rons Panthers

 

[Discobob]

I hope Peters doesn’t chase any more former SF players.

We already signed former #1 pick Javon Kinlaw and gave him a long term deal.

We just signed former #2 pick Drake Jackson to see if we can resurrect his career.

I want to see us do the work on other teams players and not simply rely on scouting of 49ers players from 3-4 years ago.

Aiyuk will be 28 in the offseason and he is still not fully ready to play.

We have had enough injured players here over the past year plus.

We don’t need to import them.

Aiyuk feels like a unique case...

- Previously elite
- Wants to play here (we think)
- At a position of need
- Maybe on a short "prove-it" deal

Rarely do the stars align so perfectly. They absolutely need to do their due diligence to get to the bottom of what happened this year, but don't write him off without kicking the tires.

 

[skinsinparadise]

I am not up or down on this. to me he'd be sort of like Ekeler was, a pass catching RB.

 

[skinsmarydu]

Hard NO. I only pulled my MCL in the Navy and got tossed because I couldn't be "sea ready" again.
I've waited tables/bartended on that same knee for the last 30 years.

This isn't that.

 

[Discobob]

I am not up or down on this. to me he'd be sort of like Ekeler was, a pass catching RB.

Id be down with that.

 

[DWinzit]

It is nice ha even with us 4 wins there appears to be good players that want to come to Washington to play

AP just can't let Jaydens personality or friendships he in the way of making smart team moves

 

[Discobob]

AP just can't let Jaydens personality or friendships he in the way of making smart team moves

True, but I don't want to swing the other way - if a guy really wants to come here cuz of Jayden and will give us team friendly terms. We'd be stupid to not leverage that - I know you aren't arguing otherwise, but it's worth sayin'

 

[DWinzit]

True, but I don't want to swing the other way - if a guy really wants to come here cuz of Jayden and will give us team friendly terms. We'd be stupid to not leverage that - I know your aren't arguing otherwise, but it's worth sayin'

I hear you, team friendly terms are always terms you want to listen to!

 

[Bulldog]

Do you see all ex 49ers? He is looking elsewhere. Luvu, Tunsil, Allegretti, Biadasz, Jacob Martin, Brown, Ertz, Wise, Jon Jones, Bobby and Lattimore all key guys he acquired from other teams for better or worse. Kinlaw, McNichols, Deebo and Jackson are his only ex Niners. All three guys are performing better than in recent years here. Jackson is a guy making the minimum who they hope to unearth as a diamond in the rough

Heck, in retrospect, he should’ve gone hard after DJ Reed and Hufanga, two of his former picks with the Niners.

This line of reasoning just doesn’t fly, It’s not Ron bringing in every far past washed up 33 year old here from a Carolina franchise on the downswing

Aiyuk has had one major injury in his career and is likely ready to go next year. Before this year, he missed 5 of a possible 67 games.

If you know his game, you know he is an elite route runner who has excelled in the slot when he has played there. If his athleticism has been diminished some, he can still be a very effective player from there

My issue is we potentially jump at a 28 year old Aiyuk who is still not capable of getting on the field and shut the door on other options because of the familiarity factor and the fact he is Daniels best friend.

In 2025 I would have preferred signing a traditional outside WR to pair with Terry and forgo trading pick for Deebo.

When Terry went down and Brown was already hurt we had no down the field passing game.

Deebo was another familiar face but in the end having a short and intermediate guy in a hybrid role was basically TE2 with per catch average near 10.

 

[method man]

My issue is we potentially jump at a 28 year old Aiyuk who is still not capable of getting on the field and shut the door on other options because of the familiarity factor and the fact he is Daniels best friend.

In 2025 I would have preferred signing a traditional outside WR to pair with Terry and forgo trading pick for Deebo.

When Terry went down and Brown was already hurt we had no down the field passing game.

Deebo was another familiar face but in the end having a short and intermediate guy in a hybrid role was basically TE2 with per catch average near 10.

I didn’t like the Deebo trade either because I didn’t like giving up a high 5th in a deep draft

Aiyuk is a different situation and different player. There is a lot that points to him not getting on the field specifically because his guarantees have been voided.

Signing him up for a 1 year deal feels a lot less risky than signing someone like Alec Pierce to something like a 3 yr / $75m deal

 

[Anselmheifer]

I didn’t like the Deebo trade either because I didn’t like giving up a high 5th in a deep draft

Aiyuk is a different situation and different player. There is a lot that points to him not getting on the field specifically because his guarantees have been voided.

Signing him up for a 1 year deal feels a lot less risky than signing someone like Alec Pierce to something like a 3 yr / $75m deal

Maybe. But signing a 28yo to a 1 year prove it deal is also likely much less of a long term solution than giving a 25 year old a 3 year contract.

Aiyuk makes me nervous. It’s clearly an upgrade over this year, but not the young primary receiving option I’d like to see with Jayden.

 

[Conn]

Signing Pierce right as he’s figuring it out and elevating his game feels a little like when we signed Garçon. Just a coincidence that they were both Colts, obviously different players and skill sets. But Garçon wasn’t a finished product yet either

 

[method man]

Maybe. But signing a 28yo to a 1 year prove it deal is also likely much less of a long term solution than giving a 25 year old a 3 year contract.

Aiyuk makes me nervous. It’s clearly an upgrade over this year, but not the young primary receiving option I’d like to see with Jayden.

Pierce would get the long term deal and more guaranteed money but wouldn’t necessarily be a long term solution. This is a guy who has never had a 1K season as a receiver.

Very possible his limitations as a receiver play out and he is gone after 26 or 27 if he is hard to cut after 26

 

[Riggo44]

This is a guy who has never had a 1K season as a receiver.

Two counters to this: One, he's had 37 yr old Matt Ryan, Gardner Minshew, Anthony Richardson, Joe Flacco, and Daniel Jones throwing the ball. Two, he isn't even 26 yet, plenty of time for improvement.

I'd rather pay for 1000 yrd seasons to come too.

 

[method man]

Two counters to this: One, he's had 37 yr old Matt Ryan, Gardner Minshew, Anthony Richardson, Joe Flacco, and Daniel Jones throwing the ball. Two, he isn't even 26 yet, plenty of time for improvement.

I'd rather pay for 1000 yrd seasons to come too.

As one example, Terry had Keenum, Haskins, Kyle Allen, one legged Alex Smith, Heinicke and Wentz throwing to him and he still put up 1K season after 1k season.

Pierce is 4th on his own team in terms of number of targets after Pittman, Warren and Downs. What that points to are weaknesses in his game that stunt him from getting more targets. Despite this season he is having, he is probably going to finish with 50 or fewer catches this year.

On the other hand, on a stacked SF team that went to the Super Bowl in 2025, Aiyuk led the team with 105 targets and beat out the 2nd most targeted guy in Kittle by 15.

If Terry were to get hurt, I have no confidence that Pierce can step up his game and become a 10+ target guy. Knee health pending, you have seen this with Aiyuk.

Pierce is the type of guy that bad teams with cap room pay up for based on hype. Sometimes, it works out (like Christian Kirk with the Jags) but it doesn't most of the time.