As the world turns in the Brandon Aiyuk saga, it is starting to appear more and more likely that the standout wide receiver stays with the San Francisco 49ers after a long, winding, puzzling offseason featuring a trade request and a hold-in at training camp.
At least, that’s how ESPN’s Adam Schefter sees it.
Appearing on The Pat McAfee Show Monday afternoon, Schefter stated that he thinks Aiyuk wants to stay in San Francisco, but ultimately wants to be paid. Schefter added that the 49ers’ “emphasis and focus” is on keeping Aiyuk in the Bay Area moving forward.
“We’ve said all along that this is a very hard deal to get done because any acquiring team would have to satisfy both Brandon Aiyuk and the 49ers. And so if a team can’t do both, then a deal can’t get done. And so you had teams out there that could satisfy one of those conditions, but not both. And with that being the case, I think Brandon Aiyuk felt like, look, he’d like to stay in San Francisco, but he wants to get paid,” Schefter said, according to video via the Pat McAfee Show on Twitter. “They couldn’t get the deal done. Okay, let’s see what else is out there. Again, he’s the one that’s advertised these other places. He’s the one that’s honestly been outspoken in the meeting the other day. He was commenting about how there are leaks in the Niners.
“I’m just telling you, I don’t think they [Niners] are talking that much. I don’t.”
Since the Aiyuk saga really went into overdrive in the last two weeks, it has been talked about ad nauseam about how hard of a potential trade it could be, due to not only satisfying the 49ers but also giving Aiyuk the type of money he is seeking.
Reportedly, both the Cleveland Browns and New England Patriots were able to satisfy the trade ask from the 49ers but were unable to reach common ground on an extension with Aiyuk due to the receiver not wanting to play in either location. The Pittsburgh Steelers have been heavily involved, but Pittsburgh hasn’t given the 49ers an acceptable offer, based on reports, even with the Steelers being Aiyuk’s preferred destination.
Now Schefter is reporting that he believes Aiyuk wanted to stay in San Francisco all along, but simply wanted paid his asking price, which couldn’t be reached, leading to him looking elsewhere. That’s not much of a surprise that Aiyuk might have wanted to stay in San Francisco all along.
He’s in a great spot in a loaded offense on a team with Super Bowl aspirations after coming up just short for the second time in five seasons in the big game. He just wants what he believes he’s worth, which is more than the $26 million that the 49ers reportedly offered.
When San Francisco wouldn’t budge, Aiyuk requested a trade, reported to training camp and then started to conduct his hold-in, leading to where we are today.
In the last week, the Steelers have reportedly made a “strong offer” to the 49ers and to Aiyuk to try and complete the trade, but the 49ers haven’t budged. NFL Insiders Ian Rapoport and Mike Garafolo stated last week that they believed the “eventual outcome” would be Aiyuk getting traded to the Steelers. But in recent days the 49ers and Aiyuk have re-engaged on contract talks, with the likelihood of him re-signing in San Francisco increasing by the day.
Now, Schefter is leaning toward Aiyuk sticking the Bay Area.
“Now it looks like the focus and emphasis is on keeping him in San Francisco and not trading him,” Schefter said, according to video via the McAfee Show on Twitter. “But I would say that this has had many twists and turns to it. And until there’s final resolution, you don’t know. But the 49ers want to keep him. They don’t wanna trade him. They’ve never wanted to trade him. They’ve wanted to get a deal worked out with him. The deal has been elusive.
“The player was the one who requested the trade. The player was the one who tweeted at Mike Tomlin. The player was the one who went on with Jayden Daniels and talked about going to the Commanders. The 49ers were not interested in doing those sorts of things. They were interested in getting a deal done because they wanted to keep the player.”
This saga has had so many twists and turns, sometimes within the same hour. It’s been rather crazy. There was some excitement in and around Pittsburgh regarding the potential chance of the Steelers landing Aiyuk via trade. That excitement has seemingly disappeared, in large part due to how long it’s dragged on as well as the news coming out about the 49ers and Aiyuk re-engaging in trade talks.
Of course, Schefter has been wrong in this situation with Aiyuk and the Steelers and 49ers. He reported last week that the Steelers were unlikely to be a landing spot for Aiyuk, and then a few hours later had to update the situation and report that the 49ers and Steelers had re-engaged trade talks.
Maybe he hasn’t had a chance to catch up with his sources just yet. That is certainly a possibility.
But at the start of a new week, it seems more and more likely Aiyuk remains in San Francisco, where he reportedly always wanted to be, and gets paid what he feels he’s worth in the process.
We’ll see what’s next in the saga that seemingly will never end.
