The Brandon Aiyuk situation drags on in San Francisco, though it sounds like the saga involving the 49ers wide receiver is going to come to a close soon with a trade. It sounds as if Aiyuk’s options are to return to San Francisco, although he hasn’t gotten a contract offer he likes, or get traded to the Pittsburgh Steelers, Cleveland Browns or New England Patriots.
According to NFL Media’s Mike Garafolo, Aiyuk’s “preferred destination” is Pittsburgh.
“Some folks said the Steelers were out of it. Steelers were never out of it, and they’re not out of it as we sit here right now. It sounds like, if you piece this all together, that that would be Aiyuk’s preferred destination of all the teams that we’ve talked about. So it’s just gotta get to the point maybe where the Steelers can sweeten the pot when it comes to the trade offer with the 49ers and then we can get to the point where Aiyuk can get a deal done with the Steelers and get over there,” Garafolo said on The Insiders on Tuesday.
New England is reportedly prepared to give Aiyuk top-five receiver money, while Cleveland might have the best trade package to offer San Francisco. But none of Pittsburgh, New England or Cleveland will trade for Aiyuk without a new deal in place, so it matters where Aiyuk wants to play. If he doesn’t want to go to Cleveland or New England, he won’t agree to an extension. He has a lot of leverage, but the 49ers also need to maximize their return for their All-Pro receiver.
That’s where it sounds as if Pittsburgh is coming up short right now. Cleveland and New England both have more assets to offer the 49ers. Assuming the Steelers don’t want to give up a first-round pick, the 49ers might prefer offers from Cleveland or New England.
Michael Silver of the San Francisco Chronicle said that Aiyuk hasn’t ruled out a trade to Cleveland or New England, however.
The war of wills between the 49ers and Brandon Aiyuk isn’t playing out the way many believed it would. My column, which gets into all of it, posts shortly. Aiyuk has not ruled out potential trades to the Patriots or Browns and continues to assess his options.
— Michael Silver (@MikeSilver) August 6, 2024
Brandon Aiyuk is a fan of Mike Tomlin, tagging him in a tweet in March, which initially spurred trade rumors, and liking his posts on Instagram. Playing for Tomlin could be a factor in Aiyuk wanting to come to Pittsburgh over the other destinations.
Brandon Aiyuk loves him some Mike Tomlin 🤣😂👀 #Steelers #NFL pic.twitter.com/Muv2PIHpaa
— Steelers Depot 7⃣ (@Steelersdepot) July 31, 2024
If Aiyuk does wind up getting traded to the Steelers, it’ll be interesting to see the structure of his contract extension and obviously what the team gave for him. It sounds like this will be wrapped up soon, and hopefully we know Aiyuk’s future home sooner rather than later.
