We’ve spent a lot of time explaining all the reasons the 49ers wouldn’t likely aim to trade wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk, but the possibility is still out there no matter how small. Let’s for a moment venture into the hypothetical world where the team decides it is so fed up with the 26-year-old All-Pro that it’d rather trade him than have him play on his fifth-year option.
Even in this hypothetical world there’s one overarching truth that will work as the foundation for all of the 49ers’ roster-building efforts: the 49ers are trying to win the Super Bowl in 2024. If the urgency was cranked up to 10 last year, San Francisco purchased a new urgency system with a scale that goes to some number higher than 10.
We can also assume in this same world that the only scenario the 49ers would rather deal Aiyuk than have him play out his rookie deal is one where they’re getting a value beyond what they believe the receiver would provide in 2024.
The chances Aiyuk would play on his fifth-year option and enter next offseason as an unrestricted free agent are slim. That’s part of what the 49ers are banking on because if he decided to hold out then he wouldn’t accrue his fifth season and he’d enter the 2025 campaign one year older, minus one full year of paychecks, and still in the same spot contractually. Nevertheless, we persist.
With all that in mind, we have to build a trade that includes something that will help the 49ers in 2024. Let’s pick the Steelers since they’re the team that most often comes up in Aiyuk trade chatter on the internet.
If San Francisco is pulling the trigger on an Aiyuk trade, it would probably look something like this:
Steelers receive: Brandon Aiyuk
49ers receive: CB Joey Porter Jr., 2025 2nd-round pick
If that seems like a lot, it’s because it is!
This is the kind of deal that might sway the 49ers off of their star WR. If it isn’t Porter specifically, who would help the 49ers’ secondary in 2024 and beyond with both Charvarius Ward and Deommodore Lenoir on track for free agency next year, then it’d be a different high-quality player who would make immediate contributions.
Given that Pittsburgh wouldn’t likely agree to such a deal, it’s hard to imagine trade talks getting far if the 49ers start making/taking calls on Aiyuk again.
For now though, in the real world, the trade discussions are simply offseason fodder until training camp begins. Perhaps the 49ers believe a trade would be a better option than paying Aiyuk long-term. If they do though it’ll be a move that keeps them atop the list of Super Bowl contenders in the NFC.
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