Mercifully, the Brandon Aiyuk contract extension saga with the San Francisco 49ers came to a largely expected end on Thursday night. The standout wide receiver reportedly signed a four-year, $120 million extension with San Francisco, getting $76 million in guaranteed money in the process.
Prior to signing that deal to get him back onto the field ahead of the 49ers’ season opener, Aiyuk was running out of time and options. According to NFL Network insider Ian Rapoport, who appeared on NFL Network’s Good Morning Football Friday morning, it was either sign the deal that had been on the table the last week or so or get traded to the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Ultimately, Aiyuk chose to take the deal, which gives him $30 million per year, a number he had in mind all along.
“Brandon Aiyuk and his family and the 49ers and all the 49ers fans who’ve been waiting endlessly for weeks and months to get this thing done, it wasn’t a trade to the Steelers, although at the end that was really the last option for Aiyuk,” Rapoport said, according to video via his Twitter page. “It was either go to the Steelers or sign this four-year, $120 million contract with $76 million guaranteed in this deal done by his agent, Ryan Williams, that took literally forever. So those were the choices. It was Steelers or 49ers.”
That’s not all that surprising, honestly. But it shows that the Steelers ended up being the bridesmaid, not the bride in this situation. That is a tough pill to swallow for GM Omar Khan and the Steelers, who have a sizable hole at wide receiver that is unlikely to be addressed in a big way anytime soon.
Of course, shortly after the extension was announced a report surfaced from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s Gerry Dulac that the Steelers were “not surprised” the receiver chose to stay in San Francisco, and that they were expecting it all along.
That didn’t stop the Steelers from seemingly going in heavily to try and acquire the standout receiver. At one point, the Steelers and 49ers reportedly had a deal in place to acquire Aiyuk, along with contract terms reportedly agreed upon. That led to NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo, among others, stating that he believed the “likely outcome” was Aiyuk getting traded to the Steelers.
Obviously that did not happen, but it seems rather clear that the Steelers finished second in this race. They were seemingly close to landing Aiyuk this week, though, based on additional reporting.
According to NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero, the 49ers had rekindled some trade talks with other teams around the NFL to see if they could land a receiver via trade if they traded Aiyuk to the Steelers.
“As recently as the past few days, the 49ers were making another round of calls to some of the other teams, not just to see, ‘Hey, could we still trade Brandon Aiyuk? Can we revive one of these trade? Can we get us a receiver?’ But also calling some of the other teams and seeing, ‘Hey, can we get a different receiver if we trade ’em to the Steelers?’ Pelissero said on Good Morning Football. “Because they didn’t have a receiver to give the 49ers. Couldn’t find any other solution. They’re a team that’s trying to win the Super Bowl right now. Their best opportunity to do that is with Brandon Aiyuk or someone like Brandon Aiyuk. You couldn’t get the stunt double, you have Aiyuk himself.
“They went the rest of the way, and they got the contract done.”
Pelissero’s comments fall in line with The Athletic’s Dianna Russini reporting Thursday night that the 49ers were offering a third-round pick that would have been acquired via the trade with the Steelers for Aiyuk to the Denver Broncos for wide receiver Courtland Sutton, a move that the Broncos ultimately declined.
Therefore, the 49ers weren’t comfortable trading Aiyuk, so they closed the gap on the extension and got the deal done. They secured a key piece long-term, leaving the Steelers wondering how and where they will be able to address their wide receiver issue moving forward.
