Brock Purdy is the first to admit he doesn’t know what’ll happen to San Francisco 49ers wide receiver and teammate Brandon Aiyuk. But to hear him talk about it, it sorta sounds like Purdy understands he might have played his last down with him, using the past tense when referring to him in an interview with the Pat McAfee Show Tuesday.
Purdy appeared to talk about his offseason and, inevitably, was asked for his thoughts on Aiyuk.
“For [roster building], that’s above my pay grade,” Purdy told the show. “But I trust them in what they do. With this whole Aiyuk thing, I was grateful I was able to throw to him and be a teammate with BA. So I love him and want the best for him. But like I said, it’s out of my pay grade from the business side of things.”
Maybe it’s strapping on the Steelers Depot patented tin foil hat a little too tight, but Purdy’s phrasing, “I was grateful I was able to throw to him,” suggests that Brock Purdy at least knows that Aiyuk could be on the move. Aiyuk has been the biggest story of the 49ers’ offseason and increasingly a central conversation point in Steelers country.
In search of a long-term deal that would make him among the highest-paid receivers in football, it’s not clear if San Francisco will be able to pay him after paying WR Deebo Samuel, RB Christian McCaffrey, LB Fred Warner, and others. And Purdy will be due to cash in next offseason after playing on the rookie deal of a literal Mr. Irrelevant contract.
The sooner the situation is resolved, the better. Endless speculation is not our favorite topic to discuss, but it is a topic that isn’t just dreaming. Aiyuk isn’t guaranteed to stay in San Francisco and is a far more realistic option than the Steelers trading for Cincinnati Bengals WR Tee Higgins, who seems to realize he’s not being moved anywhere.
Ideally, things are wrapped up in just over one week. The 49ers would probably like to make a deal happen before the draft, able to recoup capital to immediately replace him with, especially knowing how strong this year’s wide receivers class is. But it’s not that easy. The difficulty with Aiyuk, as Dave Bryan has pointed out, isn’t just the compensation of draft capital but the contract to Aiyuk. Determining the average yearly value, the guaranteed years and the overall structure is a tricky matter for any team trying to trade for him.
It took one month for the Kansas City Chiefs to trade CB L’Jarius Sneed to the Tennessee Titans due to Sneed wanting and getting a long-term deal. It was clear the Chiefs weren’t planning on playing this year with him on their roster. The 49ers may not be able to trade Aiyuk until after the draft and by then, there’s less team incentive to move him.
