The 49ers aren’t eager to trade wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk, but there are certainly scenarios that may force them to do so. One of those scenarios is one where Aiyuk demands a contract extension too far beyond what the 49ers are willing to pay. According to a report from the San Francisco Chronicle’s Michael Silver, that scenario may be landing on the table just ahead of the NFL draft, which is set to begin Thursday.
Silver gave the first indication of just how far apart the 49ers and Aiyuk might be on money. Via Silver:
Aiyuk, as per the terms of his rookie deal, is scheduled to play on the ‘fifth-year option’ in 2024, which would pay him $14.1 million. Sources around the league believe he is seeking a contract with an annual average of well over $25 million and that the 49ers have been reluctant to meet that price.
This isn’t great news, but it’s also not necessarily a sign that the 49ers are for sure trading Aiyuk during the first round of this year’s draft. If he’s not dealt by Thursday, it’s hard to believe he’ll be moved at all.
[gambcom-standard rankid=”5375″ ]
However, a negotiation that’s mostly gone on privately could get contentious if the 49ers are sitting firm in the realm of $25 million per year – a number commensurate with the deal WR DeVonta Smith got from the Philadelphia Eagles this month. Smith and Aiyuk have had virtually identical production over the last three years. If Aiyuk is looking for something like $27 million, it would make him the NFL’s third-highest-paid receiver behind Miami’s Tyreek Hill and Las Vegas’s Davante Adams, and just ahead of the Rams’ Cooper Kupp, per Over the Cap.
An average of $28 million per year would put Aiyuk on the same level as Adams, and anything more than that would put him alone behind Hill, who averages $30 million per year.
On the other hand, a $25 million-per-year extension would put Aiyuk at the same AAV as Smith and Eagles WR A.J. Brown. It’d also put him ahead of Seahawks WR DK Metcalf ($24 million) and 49ers WR Deebo Samuel ($23.85 million).
This is where things could get messy since so much of an extension is projection. Aiyuk may dig his heels in on being one of the top three highest-paid WRs because his belief is that he will hold that type of value for the 49ers over the next few seasons. Meanwhile the 49ers will look at his numbers against those of Metcalf, Smith and Brown and determine that a deal in the $25 million range is where they’re comfortable.
We’ll learn a lot about where Aiyuk and the 49ers are when the draft plays out Thursday. If the receiver isn’t dealt during the draft, we can conclude that San Francisco believes the two sides will eventually come together on a deal.
[lawrence-auto-related count=3]