The San Francisco 49ers and WR Brandon Aiyuk seem to be at a stalemate when it comes to their own contract negotiations, which has led the team to let Aiyuk talk to other teams while they attempt to work out a trade package. But between Aiyuk not wanting to go certain places and San Francisco’s inability to get acceptable compensation up to this point from teams like the Pittsburgh Steelers, there hasn’t been a lot of progress seemingly made on a trade.
ESPN’s Dan Graziano said on Unsportsmanlike this morning that San Francisco wants a resolution to this whole thing “pretty soon.”
“It’s reached a really interesting point, where the Niners look like they want a resolution pretty soon, one way or another,” Graziano said, adding that if a team can satisfy paying Aiyuk what he wants and giving the 49ers acceptable compensation, Aiyuk will be traded.
But Graziano believes that now that Aiyuk has had a chance to survey the market, he could come back to San Francisco, and the two sides could negotiate to keep him a 49er.
“The Niners are at a point where they’re like, ok, listen, you’ve had a chance to talk to some other teams about a contract, you’re not hearing what you want from them either. Maybe come back to us, maybe talk about our offer again, maybe just play this out and hit free agency.”
Graziano said there’s a “non-zero” chance that Aiyuk will wind up back in San Francisco in 2024.
Given the state of the trade negotiations, where Pittsburgh doesn’t seem willing to give San Francisco what they want and Aiyuk not wanting to play for the Cleveland Browns, it would have to take a third team coming in to make an offer for Aiyuk or potentially a third team helping facilitate a trade of Aiyuk to Pittsburgh. Someone with more receiver depth could take a pick from Pittsburgh and send San Francisco a receiver, as the team wants a receiver back, but Pittsburgh doesn’t want to deal anyone from their current roster.
It’s caused things to essentially stall out, as the reporting on Aiyuk and the Steelers has remained the same for much of the last few days – he wants to go there, but Pittsburgh and San Francisco can’t hammer out compensation. If that doesn’t change, the 49ers won’t trade him for less than they think he’s worth, and Pittsburgh will likely fall out of the running.
But with a resolution wanted and expected quickly, we could hear about Aiyuk’s future home in the next few days, whether it’s Pittsburgh, San Francisco, or elsewhere.
