brandon aiyuk contract – Page 4

What if Brandon Aiyuk, 49ers don’t get extension done?

What if a Brandon Aiyuk contract doesn’t get done?

The 49ers have a particular way of doing business, and that way of doing business makes contract negotiations like the ones they’re having with wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk a little uncomfortable. While they’re track record with these negotiations is good, there’s always a chance the two sides never come together to find the “sweet spot” on a long-term contract. So, what happens if they don’t get a deal done?

There are a handful of directions it can go if things get that ugly.

Scenario 1

Aiyuk could just play out the final year of his rookie contract at a fully guaranteed $14,124,000 this season and hit unrestricted free agency next year. The 49ers in this scenario would also be able to exclusively negotiate an extension with him until the legal negotiating window opens in mid-March. It stands to reason the franchise tag would be on the table here for the 49ers as well. Players generally don’t like playing on the fifth-year option because they’d rather have long-term stability before the final year of their rookie deals, but there’s no rule that says they can’t play it out. The 49ers are banking heavily on Aiyuk preferring long-term security going into 2024.

Scenario 2

There’s also a chance Aiyuk chooses to not play on the fifth-year option and just sits out a full season. This wouldn’t be wise since he’d not accrue a season so next year he’d be back in the same spot and he would have not been paid at all for the 2024 campaign. He could sit out until there are six games left and then return so he accrues a full season, but both of the solutions in this case are exceedingly unlikely.

Scenario 3

San Francisco could always trade Aiyuk during training camp or the preseason. If they’re of the mind they’ll never come to an agreement with Aiyuk, then the 49ers might look to move him. This would be a nightmare scenario though since they probably could have had a mid-to-late first-round pick for him in this year’s draft, but instead held onto him to negotiate a long-term deal.

The third scenario is an important one because it highlights two key components of the negotiations.

One of the main themes to everything the 49ers do right now is that they’re trying to win a Super Bowl. If Aiyuk wants to sit out an entire season, that hurts the 49ers, but it hurts him even more. Teams tend to have more leverage in these situations. San Francisco had to be of the mind during this year’s draft they’d be paying an All-Pro receiver in the range of $30 million per year by the time all the other WR contracts shook out. It’s nigh impossible to imagine the inflated WR deals came as a shock to an intelligent front office like San Francisco’s to the point that they’d suddenly be scrambling to move off of him for whatever they can get.

And that’s where the second piece of that third scenario comes into play. If the 49ers are looking to trade Aiyuk, they’d want something back that could help them this year. A 2025 draft pick can’t help them win a Super Bowl in 2024. An Aiyuk deal at this juncture would have to be a player-for-player swap where San Francisco is either getting back an excellent WR or an All-Pro type of player at another position. That kind of deal doesn’t seem likely to surface.

Ultimately, we’re going to lean on history and say something gets done between Aiyuk and the 49ers at or shortly after the start of training camp. If it doesn’t, things could get messy quick.

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49ers have good track record with extending players like Brandon Aiyuk

Freaking out about Brandon Aiyuk not having a contract yet? Good news! We’ve been here before:

The 49ers’ way of doing business might be a bit anxiety-inducing for fans. As other wide receivers have signed big contracts this offseason, San Francisco has calmly acted upon their usual soft deadline of training camp. They’ve operated this way throughout the Kyle Shanahan-John Lynch era, and as of mid-June there’s no real reason to believe the Brandon Aiyuk contract situation is any different.

San Francisco has gotten high-priced, long-term extensions done with wide receiver Deebo Samuel, tight end George Kittle, linebacker Fred Warner and defensive end Nick Bosa over the last few offseasons. There are other big contracts in there, but these are the team’s drafted players who have earned sizable deals at or near the top of the market for their second contract.

Kittle’s extension was first reported on August 13, 2020. Warner got his big deal the following year, and that was first reported July 21. Reports of Samuel’s deal in the 2022 offseason came down July 31. Bosa is the outlier because he held out until the week the regular season kicked off in early September, but nevertheless he got a contract that at the time made him the highest-paid non-quarterback in NFL history.

It’s easy to point to recent reports of Aiyuk’s pessimism, or that the 49ers aren’t indicating that they’ll rescind fines for missed practices and surmise that there’s something extraordinary going on with these particular negotiations. Never mind that Samuel outright requested a trade and while the Jets were on the clock with the No. 10 pick in the 2022 draft there was real speculation that the pick would be dealt to the 49ers in exchange for the All-Pro wide receiver. Alas, the fever broke and Samuel eventually got his deal.

One outlier here is that the other WRs who would be setting the market have almost all done their contracts already. Lions WR Amon-Ra St. Brown, Dolphins WR Jaylen Waddle, Eagles WRs DeVonta Smith and AJ Brown, and Vikings WR Justin Jefferson have all gotten their proverbial bags. Aiyuk and CeeDee Lamb, both first-round picks in 2020 and entering the final year of their rookie contracts, are the only two big-time receivers left without extensions.

Perhaps there’s some kind of waiting game with that duo to see which of them sets the market below Jefferson, who earned a four-year deal worth up to $140 with $110 million guaranteed from Minnesota in early June.

The more likely scenario is that the 49ers are following their typical path where they don’t feel any urgency in mid-June while players are away from the team with nothing substantial happening on the NFL calendar until late July when training camp begins.

Bosa last season was an outlier because his deal was a little more complicated given the scale of the contract. The reigning Defensive Player of the Year received a five-year, $170 million contract with $122.5 million guaranteed. It was the largest non-QB contract ever, and thus might have required more back-and-forth.

With Aiyuk things are a little less sticky. There’s a very clear range he should be landing with lots of contracts from comparable players to go off of. And it’s hard to believe the 49ers weren’t anticipating that level of contract when they chose not to trade the All-Pro WR during the draft.

There’s certainly still some negotiating to do, and it may get more publicly volatile in the weeks leading up to training camp. That’s not out of the ordinary for the 49ers though and the delay with Aiyuk is the same delay every other player who got a big extension from the team had to endure.

Perhaps Aiyuk or the 49ers are being wholly unrealistic and we see a rare case where San Francisco botches an extension on a budding star player. Until that happens though their track record remains far stronger than not in this area, and that’s an important thing to remember as the negotiations continue to unfold.

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Matt Barrows: No indication 49ers will forgive Brandon Aiyuk’s fines

Things aren’t going great between the 49ers and Brandon Aiyuk according to Matt Barrows on 95.7 the Game.

Things haven’t gotten publicly ugly yet between the 49ers and wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk in their contract negotiations, but according to Matt Barrows of The Athletic, that doesn’t mean things have gone swimmingly.

In an appearance on 95.7 The Game in San Francisco, Barrows told Steiny and Guru that the negotiations have been difficult and that rookie first-round pick Ricky Pearsall’s performance in OTAs has hardened the 49ers’ position in those talks. And while the 49ers were willing to forgive fines for defensive end Nick Bosa during prolonged negotiations that lasted until the first week of the regular season, it doesn’t appear they’ll do the same for Aiyuk.

“The fines will begin to pile up,” Barrows said. “And there’s no indication that the 49ers will forgive Aiyuk for absences like they did for Nick Bosa.”

Whether that’s a negotiating tactic or a firm stance by San Francisco is unclear. What is clear is Aiyuk and the 49ers aren’t necessarily trending toward a long-term contract extension.

This is part of the reason San Francisco uses training camp as a soft deadline for deals. Once the fines kick in, a player might be more willing to come down on his price to return to the field.

If Aiyuk isn’t willing to do that, he may have to play the 2024 season on his fifth-year option while also shelling out cash for missing mandatory minicamp and training camp. Given that’s the reality the 49ers are threatening, chances are these negotiations get stickier before they get better.

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Brandon Aiyuk contract is going to be so much money

Brandon Aiyuk’s contract extension is about to be so expensive.

The 49ers do business by waiting until the soft deadline of training camp to start ramping up contract negotiations. Doing so may be costing them some money on Brandon Aiyuk’s extension.

Just two days after Nico Collins received a three-year extension worth up to $75 million with $52 million guaranteed from the Texans, Jaylen Waddle of the Dolphins got a three-year extension worth up to $84.75 million with $76 million guaranteed according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter.

Collins’ $52 million guaranteed was the second-most among WRs behind Dolphins WR Tyreek Hill, who was just over $52 million. That was very likely going to be the guaranteed number Aiyuk’s camp was circling as a ballpark figure for what the All-Pro WR would want.

Now Waddle’s $76 million guaranteed sets a new standard.

Perhaps Aiyuk will allow the guaranteed money to come in lower than Waddle, who has three 1,000-yard seasons under his belt and 18 touchdown catches in three NFL seasons. Aiyuk is at two 1,000-yard seasons with 25 touchdown receptions in four years. Waddle has never earned an All-Pro nod. Aiyuk was a Second-Team All-Pro last season.

This is going to get sticky for the 49ers as they try and navigate the salary cap in a reality where they’ll eventually have a quarterback making top-of-market money. However, the Dolphins have now paid two top-flight WRs to help support their QB who is also expected to get a sizable contract this offseason. Pairing good WRs with young QBs is a quality team-building strategy the 49ers should certainly be looking to employ with Aiyuk and Purdy. It’s just going to be pricier than they might have imagined going into the offseason.

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How Nico Collins’ contract extension impacts 49ers, Brandon Aiyuk

What Nico Collins’ contract extension means for the 49ers and WR Brandon Aiyuk.

The Houston Texans and wide receiver Nico Collins agreed to a three-year contract extension worth $72 million, according to Dianna Russini of the Athletic. Aaron Wilson of KPRC2 in Houston reported the deal has $52 million guaranteed. This gives the 49ers and wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk another data point to work off of in their contract negotiations.

Wilson also reported the contract is worth $72.75 million, with a maximum value of $75 million.

Collins had a breakout season with the Texans last year, posting 80 catches for 1,297 yards and eight touchdowns in 15 games. He was entering the final year of his rookie contract after joining Houston in 2021 as a third-round pick from Michigan.

While his track record isn’t as complete as Aiyuk’s, his outstanding season last year with rookie quarterback C.J. Stroud was enough to get him a sizable payday.

The $24 million annually puts him in the DK Metcalf and Deebo Samuel range for AAV, but his guaranteed number leaps off the screen. A $52 million guarantee is the second-highest guarantee for a receiver in the NFL. Only Tyreek Hill’s $52,535,000 is higher, per Over the Cap.

That’s more likely to be the number Aiyuk and his camp will focus on when it comes to their negotiations. Even Amon-Ra St. Brown’s huge deal worth up to $120 million with the Lions only includes $34,666,000 guaranteed.

Speculation has been that Aiyuk will aim for a deal similar to St. Brown’s, but now that Collins has agreed to this extension we can likely circle that one as something closer to what the second-team All-Pro will be aiming for this offseason.

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How much could Brandon Aiyuk be seeking in a new contract with the 49ers?

We have a report on what kind of contract Brandon Aiyuk is looking for from the #49ers.

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.

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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.

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49ers may change contract negotiation tactics for Brandon Aiyuk

The 49ers have a typical timeline for contract negotiations. They may change that for Brandon Aiyuk.

49ers general manager John Lynch wasn’t interested in talking about the team’s ongoing contract negotiations with wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk. Lynch opened his press conference by saying he wanted to focus on the draft, so naturally he was asked about the Aiyuk negotiations right away.

While the GM didn’t divulge much in the way of progress on the negotiations, he did offer some fascinating insight into how the team might change its typical contract negotiation timeline.

Under Lynch and head coach Kyle Shanahan the 49ers have done a nice job retaining their home-grown stars. Those long-term contracts typically come late in the offseason either right before camp or early in camp. For defensive end Nick Bosa it took until the week the season started. Doing it that way gave the team the maximum amount of time to negotiate a deal while also using soft deadlines like training camp start dates as leverage.

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Now it sounds like San Francisco could be rethinking that strategy after recent negotiations with Bosa and WR Deebo Samuel bled into camp and limited some of their preparations for the season.

“I think there is human nature is that deadlines force these things, but I think you can always learn from situations and you’d be a fool not to,” Lynch said. “I’d like to have our business tidied up a little. Those things, they ran the course they needed to. I’m proud of our record of getting the guys we want to get done, done. But I’m right there with everyone else. I’d sure like it to happen sooner.”

This could be genuine reflection from Lynch and an indication that the club believes dragging out negotiations is somehow damaging for players who have the contract lingering over them throughout the offseason. It might also be lip service since hoping a deal happens sooner than later has been a common theme for the 49ers during these types of negotiations.

Fans would certainly love to see the club shrink the timeline on such deals though. An offseason where Aiyuk speculation is ceased well before training camp would be boring, but a welcome reprieve from the standard turbulent offseason contract negotiations.

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John Lynch mum on Brandon Aiyuk contract talks

John Lynch didn’t want to say much about the Brandon Aiyuk contract negotiations. Mission accomplished!

49ers general manager John Lynch on Monday spoke with reporters ahead of the NFL draft which begins Thursday. Before taking questions Lynch addressed the sizable elephant in the room — the contract talks with wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk.

Lynch last spoke with reporters at the NFL owners meetings in March and didn’t have an Aiyuk update. Since then there have been rumors swirling, but nothing definitive from neither the 49ers nor Aiyuk’s camp. Lynch wanted to make clear early in his availability that he wouldn’t have any Aiyuk updates Monday.

”B. A. I’ve communicated on many occasions our wish,” Lynch said. “And our wish is that he’s here and part of the Niners for the rest of his career. We’re working through that, and as such, I was a player once and I never liked my business being out in the public, and so I’m gonna respect that. I’m not gonna speak for their side. I can say we’re having good talks and I’m just gonna leave it at that.”

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It’s not a huge surprise Lynch didn’t want to dive into the contract negotiations in public. Aiyuk’s agent has also been quick to publicly refute rumors of trade talks between the 49ers and other teams.

Lynch reiterated his stance that the 49ers want to keep Aiyuk — a statement he also gave last time he spoke with media at the NFL owners meetings in March.

It’s unlikely we’ll see anything definitive on the Aiyuk situation until the draft. If he’s not dealt on Day 1 of the draft it’s unlikely he’ll be moved this year, which will turn the attention away from potential trades and toward the negotiations. After that we’ll probably have to wait for a deal to come together before we hear Lynch or anyone else from the 49ers say something of substance about it.

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Brandon Aiyuk’s social media post just following contract negotiation playbook

Don’t freak out about Brandon Aiyuk’s social media activity. (Do freak out if the 49ers trade him though).

Brandon Aiyuk on Monday sent various corners of the internet where 49ers fans reside into a tizzy with a simple Instagram post. The All-Pro wide receiver posted to his story a set of emojis that translated roughly to “money talks, defecation from some kind of horned bovine creature walks.”

The only thing keeping this from being a textbook play from a player negotiating a contract is that it wasn’t quite cryptic enough. The message was loud and clear (and not particularly groundbreaking): Aiyuk wants to get paid.

Aiyuk’s desire to achieve the proverbial bag this offseason isn’t a secret. It’s not a secret any time an ascending All-Pro player is due for his second NFL contract. The post from Aiyuk is a typical move to negotiate as best as possible through the public. He can control the discourse with a couple taps on his phone since general manager John Lynch is going to say all the right things publicly about how they’re working toward a deal and they want Aiyuk around long-term. He’ll also say things like the 49ers are okay with letting Aiyuk play out his fifth-year option.

While Lynch does that, Aiyuk can whip fans into a frenzy to try and apply some kind of external pressure on the 49ers.

That’s the extent of the damage he can do with a social media post though. The 49ers front office didn’t see Aiyuk’s IG story and have some kind of revelation that they may need to pay him top-five WR money. There have been zero points since the start of the 2023 season when that hasn’t been the case. He was stellar in 2022 and backed it up with an even better 2023. There are a million reasons they’ll want to keep him in the building.

We can expect more of this kind of thing going forward if other players contract negotiations are instructive at all. At some point there’ll be another social media post from Aiyuk or someone close to him indicating he’s on his way out. There will be teams and people followed and unfollowed on social media. Photos and posts will be deleted. There might even be a public trade demand in there.

None of these public negotiation tactics will ultimately matter because none of it is out of the ordinary. We’ve seen it time and time again, and it doesn’t alter the 49ers’ course of negotiations at all. Just like Lynch saying all the right things won’t change Aiyuk’s course of negotiation. What will matter is what’s going on behind closed doors.

It’s clear the 49ers want to keep Aiyuk, but they’ll have a price point. Whether Aiyuk’s price point falls at or below where the 49ers are willing to go remains to be seen. Those negotiations are certainly underway on some level, but they’ve likely not begun in earnest.

There are two deadlines, one hard and one soft. The hard deadline is the 2024 NFL draft which starts on Thursday, April 25. If San Francisco is going to trade Aiyuk it’s likely they’d want to do so by Day 1 of the draft to ensure they’re maximizing their return in a way that will help them this season.

The soft deadline is the start of training camp. The 49ers have typically done business in a way that sees long-term extensions get done either just before or early on in training camp. We saw defensive end Nick Bosa take his negotiations on a new contract up to the first week of the regular season, but that hasn’t been the usual timeline for San Francisco and its star players.

It’s unlikely there’s a smooth path to the conclusion of the Aiyuk saga. Regardless of how it ends there are going to be twists and turns. While we don’t know how this all will end, we do know it’s not going to turn either direction based on an either cryptic or not-so-cryptic social media post.

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Why extending Brandon Aiyuk is essential for 49ers

The 49ers have to re-sign Brandon Aiyuk. Some thoughts:

Extending wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk is sitting highlighted and in bold type atop the 49ers’ imaginary offseason to-do list. The reasons for keeping him in the building were established over the last two seasons when Aiyuk led the team in receiving despite dealing with an array of quarterback tumult and playing third or fourth fiddle to the team’s other offensive weapons.

Aiyuk is ascending as one of the five or 10 best receivers in football. That alone is reason enough to pay to keep him in Santa Clara. There’s a ripple effect created by keeping him though that is an essential piece of the 49ers’ long-term future.

What Aiyuk has been able to do in an offense that also features WR Deebo Samuel, tight end George Kittle and running back Christian McCaffrey has been undeniably impressive. He’s built a good rapport with quarterback Brock Purdy and he thrives in the same areas of the field that Purdy is at his best throwing to.

That relationship with the young QB is the key reason San Francisco has to ensure Aiyuk is back for the foreseeable future.

It appears the 49ers are ready to make Purdy their franchise quarterback, and with his extension due as early as next offseason, they’ll need to start figuring out how to build a roster around a quarterback contract that sits near the top of the market instead of literally at the very bottom of it.

That has to start with Aiyuk, who will be 26-years old for the 2024 season. His prime aligns with Purdy’s, but it also aligns with the inevitable exodus of the 49ers’ other star players.

Samuel is 28, Kittle turns 31 in October, and McCaffrey will turn 28 before the 2024 campaign kicks off. All three of that trio have two years left on their contracts. Even if they re-sign in San Francisco they’ll be either past or on the back-end of their primes.

Letting Aiyuk out the door via trade puts the 49ers in danger of having a barren roster around their young, expensive franchise quarterback just one year after signing him to a long-term deal. Sure, they could retool and add pieces via the draft and free agency, but they have an ascending superstar already in their building who already has good chemistry with said QB.

Paying another WR top-of-market money when the offense is already loaded with stars is probably not an easy pill for the front office to swallow. That’s the short-term view though. Aiyuk has to stick around for the long-term because the 49ers are ultimately a team in transition. They’re in the process of moving from one core to another, and Aiyuk is firmly implanted in that new wave of 49ers player who would ideally be at the forefront of a Super Bowl window flung wide open again.

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