If you’re a simple Twitter/X user like me, you’ve been furiously refreshing your timeline all afternoon for the “supposed” news that the Pittsburgh Steelers trading for Brandon Aiyuk was imminent. But according to those who do this for a living, there’s no deal in place to send Aiyuk to Pittsburgh or anywhere else.
Updating the situation Monday, NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero says the 49ers have no trade in place for Aiyuk.
“There is no trade in place to the Pittsburgh Steelers or anyone else,” Pelissero said, echoing Mike Garafolo’s thoughts on Aiyuk. “Regardless of what you might have seen on social media, regardless of who might have bought a blue check. Even though you can’t buy credibility and put things out there by taking real information and other internet rumors and then packaging them as something that’s actually real.”
A spicy take from a clearly annoyed Pelissero.
Online rumors of a deal either being nearly agreed to or actually finalized have sent Steelers’ Twitter into a frenzy. And it seemed like there was smoke with that fire. Yesterday, 49ers’ beat writer Matt Maiocco changed his offseason tune, believing San Francisco trading Aiyuk was more likely than ever before.
Coupled with today’s rumors and the fact that Aiyuk has yet to receive a long-term deal as seemingly every other wide receiver around the NFL gets paid, the Miami Dolphins’ Tyreek Hill is the latest, and it’s easy to connect the virtual dots. But assuming Pelissero is correct, there’s no deal in place.
To avoid stealing all your hopium, how Aiyuk’s situation gets resolved is unclear. He still wants a deal that will pay him at or close to $30 million per year, terms the 49ers aren’t going for. Pittsburgh has the financial flexibility to make such a deal work. Earlier, Dave Bryan outlined possible ways the Steelers could structure a mega-contract for Aiyuk.
While Garafolo and Pelissero were strong that Aiyuk doesn’t have a trade in place with the Steelers, they said a resolution to his saga could be fast approaching.
“We do feel like we’re getting closer here, though. We do feel like at some point something is going to happen to finally seal Brandon Aiyuk’s fate potentially with a new team.”
He cited the obstacles to agreeing to trade compensation with the 49ers and hammering out a long-term deal with Aiyuk. Because a contract essentially must be part of any deal, Aiyuk has the ability to block any trade if he doesn’t want to join a given team or if he doesn’t like their contract terms. The 49ers have the same leverage when it comes to agreeing to what they’d receive in return, even if the Steelers make a run at Aiyuk and can get past the financial aspects.
Garafolo said there are “multiple teams in play” for Aiyuk but no agreements have been reached.
Most recently, the 49ers have stated there are no updates on reaching a long-term deal with Aiyuk, though GM John Lynch says that’s been the team’s goal.
As always, stay tuned. Hopefully, an answer on Aiyuk will come soon enough, but it doesn’t appear there will be one today.
Update: 7:22 p.m.
Shortly after the segment on Inside Training Camp Live, Pelissero and Garafolo were back at it on NFL Network’s The Insiders.Â
“We’ve had the Patriots mentioned, we have the Browns mentioned, we have the Steelers mentioned. And again, we’ve had a return to San Francisco mentioned as well,” Garafolo said. “There are multiple avenues in which this could go…I would say we’re closer to a trade than we are to him staying in San Francisco at this point.”
