The Pittsburgh Steelers seem unlikely to make a big trade for a receiver such as Brandon Aiyuk, but it won’t stop people from believing it’s a move that the Steelers should make. Pro Football Focus listed one move each AFC team should make before training camp, and for the Steelers, it was trading for Aiyuk.
“Brandon Aiyuk’s contract situation is looming large in San Francisco. The former first-round pick will play out 2024 on his fifth-year option and is due to be a free agent at the end of the season. While the 49ers would like to have him back, we’ve yet to see a long-term deal play out. And when it does, it’ll likely be for big money — money the 49ers may not be able to afford. That could open the door for a receiver-needy team like the Steelers to make a move,” Thomas Valentine wrote.
Even if a contract doesn’t get done this offseason, Aiyuk could still play out his fifth-year option and sign a long-term extension after the season. If that is the case, then the 49ers could look to move on from Deebo Samuel, but that’s a discussion for 2025.
Given Pittsburgh’s need at receiver and the fact that Aiyuk said he could see himself playing for the Steelers in 2024, it’s natural to pair the two sides together. But it would break precedent for the Steelers to trade for Aiyuk and give him a contract that could be the highest on the team. They’d also have to give up draft assets to make a trade work. Breaking precedent isn’t necessarily the reason why a trade won’t happen, but there’s seemingly been less and less traction on a potential deal over the last few weeks.
Aiyuk may be unhappy with his contract situation, but the 49ers are Super Bowl contenders and aren’t just going to trade him for a weak return. Aiyuk also hasn’t formally requested a trade, and the two sides reportedly held a productive meeting in recent weeks.
There’s no doubt that trading for Aiyuk would elevate Pittsburgh’s offense, and it would give the Steelers another top receiver opposite George Pickens. The passing attack would be significantly upgraded, and the Steelers would become a lot more dangerous, but there are a lot of variables, with the main one being the rising wide receiver market, that makes a trade feel unlikely at this point.
You can never say never, and maybe once training camp rolls around talks pick up or Aiyuk demands a trade. But right now, trading for Aiyuk just doesn’t seem like something that will happen for the Steelers.
