Would Brandon Aiyuk prefer to play for the Steelers over the 49ers?
While the temperature has cooled some in the past 24 hours, it still feels like we are near the end. Either the San Francisco 49ers keep Brandon Aiyuk or they trade him to the Pittsburgh Steelers. That seems to be where most people are landing, but if so, I think it also begs the question.
Would Brandon Aiyuk rather play for the Steelers over the 49ers? Yes, a big part of the discussion is the 49ers not meeting his salary demands. But the Steelers are not going to pay Aiyuk top dollar either, and that jives with the reports out there. Omar Khan is trying to Khan Artist this one, paying as little as possible to both player and team.
They may have the trump card in the head coaching dynamic, though. According to reports, Aiyuk is wearing on 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan, while he has a clear affinity for the Steelers’ Mike Tomlin. I imagine that’s a big part of why he rejected deals with the Browns and the Patriots.
There are reports suggesting that the Patriots offered Brandon Aiyuk $32 million per season, which the Steelers won’t come near. And yet he wants to play here—but how badly? Would he rather continue his career in Pittsburgh over San Francisco?
Tomlin knows how to handle players amid contract disputes—I’m not so sure Shanahan does, even though they have gone through contract disputes before in recent years with Deebo Samuel and Nick Bosa. T.J. Watt and Diontae Johns hung out with Tomlin on the sidelines while they held in—yet apparently Aiyuk is getting on Shanahan’s nerves, among others high up in the organization.
Is he going out of his way to get under his skin, contrary to Shanahan’s previous hold-ins? Is any of this Aiyuk telling us that he wants to play for the Steelers more than the 49ers? And if so, how much of that is strictly based on his contract demands? How much more are the Steelers willing to give Aiyuk than the 49ers are? I’m guessing not that much, so all things being equal, it comes down to preference.
The Steelers’ 2024 season is approaching, following another disappointing year that culminated in a first-round playoff loss. The only change-up in the annual formula lately is whether they exit early or miss the playoffs altogether. They have had a long offseason since the Buffalo Bills stamped them out of their misery back in January.
The biggest question hanging over the team is the quarterback question. Does Russell Wilson make them a Super Bowl-caliber team, or are they wasting a year? How will the team continue to address the depth chart?
The Steelers are in training camp and the preseason and the 2024 season is coming into focus. They made numerous moves through signings and trade—and release. More than usual, they seemed comfortable creating holes, confident they can fill them. Some they managed to fill, others not so much. Now that we have so many pieces of the puzzle, however, we merely have a new set of questions to ask.
