It’s not often that a head coach will confirm reporting publicly after the fact, but the Brandon Aiyuk saga in San Francisco has made the 49ers do some strange things.
That includes head coach Kyle Shanahan. Following the 49ers’ 32-19 win over the New York Jets on Monday Night Football, Shanahan confirmed to reporters the Sunday morning report from FOX NFL insider Jay Glazer that the 49ers nearly traded Aiyuk to the Pittsburgh Steelers before ultimately hammering out Aiyuk’s four-year, $120 million deal with $76 million guaranteed.
“It was that I wanted to make sure he wasn’t traded already,” Shanahan said of the Aiyuk situation, according to video of his postgame comments from the 49ers’ YouTube page. “But no, that’s how I kind of reported [to] you guys throughout the whole time. You guys would ask me stuff about it, and I say, ‘Anything could happen.’ There were reports that we almost traded with some teams, and then we didn’t.
“Some were true, some weren’t, but all options were open.”
Throughout the process, the Steelers were considered one of the favorite landing spots for the standout receiver. NFL Network insiders Ian Rapoport and Mike Garafolo had reported throughout the height of the Aiyuk saga that the Steelers had a deal in place with the 49ers to land the talented wide receiver and that the expected outcome was at one point that Aiyuk would be traded to the Steelers.
That nearly happened, according to Glazer.
During the FOX NFL Kickoff Show Sunday, Glazer reported that the 49ers were on the phone with the Steelers finalizing a trade of Aiyuk to Pittsburgh before Shanahan intervened. According to Glazer, he ran upstairs to put the trade on hold after Aiyuk came into his office and said he wanted to be in San Francisco and wanted to get the deal done.
“The day it actually got done, the 49ers were trading him to the Pittsburgh Steelers,” Glazer said. “He was already en route there and then all of a sudden, Brandon Aiyuk happened to show up early to the facility that day. Went downstairs, tried to meet with Kyle Shanahan, tried to get in touch with the front office, but they couldn’t take his call because they were trying to get a trade done with the Pittsburgh Steelers.”
