San Francisco 49ers general manager John Lynch wants and expects Brandon Aiyuk to be on the team once the year begins. But he won’t guarantee it.
In a departure of language compared with DE Nick Bosa last offseason, a challenging contract to get done, Lynch acknowledged there’s no “absolute” Aiyuk will stay. And he let the other 31 teams know that his phone line is open.
“I did say that with Bosa, and I felt that way,” Lynch said during a pre-camp press conference via the 49ers’ YouTube channel. “Again, no absolutes there. We fully intend on Brandon being a 49er moving forward. We’re always open to listening to things. We expect Brandon to be an integral part of our team like he has been. And excited about that.”
The Bosa comment refers to Lynch’s ironclad guarantee that the team wasn’t trading him. This time a year ago, Bosa was the player angling for a new deal, going one step further than Aiyuk by actually holding out. It led some to speculate that Bosa could be dealt but Lynch unequivocally refuted the notion last summer.
“No,” Lynch said when asked if there was any scenario Bosa could be dealt.
Bosa eventually received a long-term deal days before the team’s opener against the Steelers. Clearly, Lynch isn’t expressing the same confidence with Aiyuk.
Aiyuk, who reported to camp today, is still looking for a long-term deal that would make him one of the highest-paid receivers in football. While reporting will avoid costly daily fines, it’s still logical that Aiyuk will “hold-in” and opt against practicing until he receives a new contract.
Earlier this month, Aiyuk officially requested a trade from the 49ers. While that puts additional pressure on the team, WR Deebo Samuel made a similar request two years ago but ultimately re-signed with the team.
Lynch admitted it’s been a difficult process.
“I always want to be optimistic. It’s been a tough one. It’s been hard to find that common ground as evidence by us not having a deal in place when we both have tried,” he said. “We’re going to continue to work towards finding resolution. Not optimistic, not pessimistic, just going to keep attacking it.”
One more minor but notable point is that the 49ers will be without first-round pick WR Ricky Pearsall for the start of camp. He’s beginning camp on the NFI list due to a hamstring injury, though the team believes he’ll only miss the first four practices during the “ramp-up period.” That’s valuable time lost to potentially make the team feel more comfortable playing without Aiyuk.
Pittsburgh has been long rumored to have interest in trading for Aiyuk. Getting a deal done won’t be easy. Not only will the 49ers require a high level of draft capital, potentially a first-round pick, Aiyuk will cost a large sum of money in average yearly value and structure of his deal. Still, it’s reasonable to believe the Steelers are still searching for a starting-caliber receiver opposite of George Pickens to complete their offense.
Lynch didn’t have a timetable for when Aiyuk’s situation could be resolved.
The next steps are to see Aiyuk’s posture during training camp and if he does hold out along with any comments he makes to the media. For the Steelers, they’ll begin evaluating their receiver corps once the team begins practicing Thursday.
