Our long, national NFL nightmare is over.
San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk has finally signed his gigantic contract extension, per multiple reports. His holdout comes to a close as he will now return to team activities.
We can finally stop hearing about Aiyuk’s holdout. We can finally stop hearing the 49ers brass dancing around what felt fully inevitable.
We can finally be at peace as we scroll through our social media apps without having to hear about fantastical trades that made no sense for San Francisco to make right before the season, one where they’re expected to once again contend for a Super Bowl.
This whole ordeal can finally… finally come to a close. Thank goodness.
Finally!! 🚨 🚨 🚨
The #49ers are not trading star WR Brandon Aiyuk — he’s staying in SF with a massive extension, per me and @MikeGarafolo.
Aiyuk is getting a front-loaded 4-year deal worth $120M — done by @RyanWilliamsA1 of @AthletesFirst. And yes, Aiyuk will now practice. pic.twitter.com/2LreDyUDoH
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) August 29, 2024
Did it ever really feel likely that the 49ers would actually trade one of their best players right before the season? That move would’ve thrown the whole offense out of whack to start the year, as Aiyuk plays a critical role in keeping this unit elite under Kyle Shanahan. He is a highly valuable asset.
It made plenty of sense for Aiyuk to advocate for himself, and he will make a lot of money on this new deal. He’s $120 million richer than he was this morning, and he can now show up to practice, something understandably San Francisco was getting antsy about with the season starting in a little more than a week.
However, the idea of a breakup between these two sides always felt farcical. It never made any sense for Aiyuk to go to a team like the Pittsburgh Steelers or Washington Commanders when the 49ers are in contending shape and had the cap space to pay him. It also never made any sense for San Francisco to ship him off when he plays such a vital role in their offense, particularly when you consider the spotty injury history of wide receiver Deebo Samuel.
While both sides in this deal are undoubtedly happy about how this all ended, the real winners are us, the NFL public.
We don’t have to keep hearing about the Aiyuk holdout or the nonsensical idea of him getting traded, and now we can go back to our regularly scheduled programming of having far, far too much confidence in our respective teams before they inevitably lose to the Kansas City Chiefs.
Same as it ever was; same as it ever was.
[lawrence-auto-related count=3 category=1371]