The most talked about player in Pittsburgh who isn’t on the Steelers’ roster has probably been San Francisco 49ers WR Brandon Aiyuk. Dating back to late March after the Steelers traded away WR Diontae Johnson, many have speculated that the team would add a top-notch talent at the position via free agency or trade. Here we are a few months later, and the free agent market is all dried up, which leaves the Steelers with a couple of options. They can wait until roster cutdowns in September and hope a suitable candidate becomes available, or they can conduct a trade.
Aiyuk is among the leading candidates for a possible trade between now and the start of the season. Especially now that we are past June 1st, teams can cut or trade players and spread out the dead money between this year and next year, which makes things a little easier to navigate for the team that parts ways with their talent.
With Justin Jefferson signing a record-breaking contract earlier today, he set a new bar for receivers who are in the middle of contract negotiations. Albert Breer posted an article on Sports Illustrated this morning reacting to the Jefferson news and mentioned how this could murky the waters for a possible Aiyuk deal.
“Good on the Vikings for taking care of Jefferson, and good on the Lions, Dolphins, and Eagles for getting ahead of the market,” Breer wrote. “And good luck to the San Francisco 49ers with Brandon Aiyuk and the Dallas Cowboys with CeeDee Lamb.”
Jefferson’s extension is reportedly for four years and $140 million, with $110 million guaranteed. It makes him the highest-paid non-QB in the league’s history. With the Cowboys in extension talks with Lamb, if he signs prior to anything happening with Aiyuk, then that will obviously continue to raise the bar and make things more difficult on the 49ers.
They have a pretty loaded WR room as it is with Deebo Samuel, rookie first-rounder Ricky Pearsall, and Jauan Jennings. Not to mention fourth-round rookie Jacob Cowing and several other names competing for a role. Aiyuk is the only notable name on that list who is entering the final year of his contract. Breer expanded on his Aiyuk thoughts and mentioned a potential surprise that could happen as a result of these new developments.
“The team, meanwhile, now has Deebo Samuel, Ricky Pearsall, and Jennings under contract for the next two years after entering the season with only Samuel locked up past 2024,” Breer wrote. “That gives the Niners some flexibility as they negotiate with Brandon Aiyuk—either to eventually part ways with him (and I don’t think they want to) or perhaps trade Samuel if they can reach an extension with Aiyuk.”
John Lynch, the GM of the 49ers, has pretty consistently stated his desire to work out a long-term deal with Aiyuk after he made the second-team All-Pro list for the first time in 2023. However, the WR market continues to explode and apply pressure to the situation. Whether they sign Aiyuk and possibly trade Samuel or just end up trading Aiyuk outright, it seems likely that one of their receivers will not be on the roster come Week 1.
There is always the chance that they stand pat and use their loaded WR room to get over the hump and finally win a Super Bowl after coming so close for multiple years. That would give them a compensatory pick in 2026, capped at a third-rounder, rather than whatever they could fetch for the 2025 draft in a trade.
This, of course, also makes it more tricky for the Steelers to acquire a receiver. They would have to go through the same negotiation process prior to executing a trade, and the exploding WR market will make that part of the process more difficult regardless of whether it’s Aiyuk, Samuel, or any other receiver out there in a similar situation.
