The Pittsburgh Steelers and San Francisco 49ers were the last two dance partners for Brandon Aiyuk. In the end, Aiyuk left with the one who brought him there. Aiyuk is remaining a 49er, signing a massive four-year, $120 million frontloaded contract that will make him among the highest-paid receivers in the game. Reacting to the news and recapping the last month of will he/won’t he, NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport explains why a Steelers-49ers trade never came together.
“At the end, it was either going to be Steelers or 49ers and Brandon Aiyuk,” Rapoport said on NFLN’s The Insiders. “The Steelers didn’t have a receiver. They were never going to trade Pickens. Didn’t have a receiver to trade the 49ers. They couldn’t do a deal.”
Rapoport doesn’t cover much new ground here, not that it’s stopped the Aiyuk news cycle ever before, but it hammers home the point. For San Francisco to feel comfortable trading Aiyuk, they wanted a receiver in return. New England and Cleveland may have provided that with Kendrick Bourne and Amari Cooper, but Aiyuk rejected going to either place even as the Patriots offered more money, reportedly up to $32 million per season.
In the end, Pittsburgh’s reason for wanting Aiyuk proved to be their biggest downfall. The Steelers courted Aiyuk because they needed a wide receiver. Meaning, they had no receiver to exchange with the 49ers. At least, no one who would remotely interest John Lynch and company. As Rapoport notes, the Steelers weren’t going to trade George Pickens, leaving themselves in a similar situation with a clear No. 1 receiver and not much else. Neither Calvin Austin III nor Van Jefferson were going to compel the 49ers to push a deal through.
That held up a trade this whole time, and put Aiyuk and the 49ers back at the negotiating table. As difficult as the whole process was and seemingly bubbling to a boil with Aiyuk skipping practice as the team shifted into regular season mode, they reached a deal to keep him in San Francisco for the long haul.
Brandon Aiyuk is securing the bag. Pittsburgh is left holding it.
