The trade market for WR Brandon Aiyuk got red hot a couple of weeks ago, with new reports surfacing by the hour on which teams were making the latest offer to the San Francisco 49ers. The three most credibly reported leads were the Cleveland Browns, New England Patriots, and Pittsburgh Steelers. That trade market seems to have been narrowed down to just one team – the Steelers.
That simplifies things for the 49ers in their negotiations. They just have to beat the Steelers’ offer for Aiyuk and satisfy his contract demands without several other offers complicating things. Aiyuk somewhat showed his hand when he reportedly denied the Patriots and Browns, who both had competitive offers on the table for the deal.
Various reports from Adam Schefter, Mike Garafolo, and others have indicated that Aiyuk would prefer to stay with the 49ers. What was once a 50-50 tossup may have shifted to ‘advantage 49ers.’
“The 49ers are engaged in contract talks with Brandon Aiyuk and his representatives. They are hopeful that they can get a deal done. Pittsburgh remains on standby. They would like to trade for Brandon Aiyuk. They have parameters in place, but trade talks, I’m told, really over the last week have been pretty quiet,” ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler said via SportsCenter this morning. “Sources I’ve talked to that thought maybe this was a coin flip a week ago believe that San Francisco probably has a slight edge. Maybe 60-40, something like that.”
This seems to be in line with some other recent reporting that stated the 49ers and Aiyuk had just one more thing to iron out as they closed in on an extension. Garafolo clarified that report yesterday and said the 49ers have come up on their offer significantly since the spring, but the final hurdle is linked to the money on the last year of the deal. That money wouldn’t be guaranteed, but it does play a role in helping inflate the average annual value that gets reported.
He had reportedly been looking for somewhere in the $30 million per year range earlier in the offseason. Tacking on an inflated final year could help the average annual value be in that ballpark on a more team-friendly contract structure. If that is indeed the final hurdle, then it does seem likely the 49ers and Aiyuk ultimately work out an extension.
“Executives I’ve talked to around the league do expect the 49ers to end up signing him to an extension that might be in that $30 million per year range, maybe slightly less,” Fowler said. “But here’s the thing – I’m told he’s got some needs that need to be met in that contract that have not yet. So they’re trying to hash that out…They got to sort of meet him somewhere in the middle.”
The problem with the 49ers is they have a lot of mouths to feed, both now and with an eye on the future. OT Trent Williams is actively holding out, so they have to budget for that with this Aiyuk situation. They also have to balance against what QB Brock Purdy is going to receive next off-season when he likely becomes among the highest-paid quarterbacks in the league.
If Albert Breer’s report is to be believed, the Steelers offered somewhere around $28 million per season to Aiyuk. But their trade offer to the 49ers has reportedly been insufficient compared to what they were looking for. Unless the Steelers up their offer, it seems like this is headed towards an extension for Aiyuk to remain with the 49ers.
