The Pittsburgh Steelers want to land a wide receiver via trade, which has been reported for a while now. Obviously, the name thrown around the most has been Brandon Aiyuk from the 49ers, and that rumor was largely sparked out of Aiyuk’s own doing a month ago.
Aiyuk sparked speculation last month when he sent a message to Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin on X, stating “@CoachTomlin they saying we twins. What you think?”
But 49ers general manager John Lynch, who ran into Tomlin at Michigan pro day, threw cold water on the trade rumors, stating nothing is happening there.
“I promise you, nothing’s going on there,” Lynch said of the trade rumors at the NFL owner’s meetings in late March. “We’re actually talking to Brandon to try and figure something out. You know, we have a good history of working with the guys that we want to get done to get something done. So, can we do that? We’ll see. There’s a number of different directions that could go. But we appreciate the heck out of Brandon and what he is as a player. We want him to be a part of the Niners, so we’re going to work towards making that a reality.”
It seems unlikely, for now, that would happen. But there could be other players that the team looks to take an upside swing on. For example, the Denver Broncos could try to move on from Courtland Sutton. They already moved on from Jerry Jeudy, and Sutton could very well be next in that list.
If there is one that could be a bigger splash but feels more likely, this one does. The Broncos are not in this thing to win it this year; in fact, they might be looking to try to bounce to the top of the draft board for the 2025 season. But Courtland Sutton has the Russell Wilson connection and profiles as the contested catch, big-bodied guy that the team was looking to add when Mike Williams was targeted.
Take it from the long view, and Sutton’s cap savings after June 1 would rack up to over $10 million. Even before then, the Broncos can stomach a trade, and Sutton has been rumored to perpetually be on the trade block for nearly a year at this point. It’s obviously not the same level of splash as Aiyuk or some other massive names that were thrown around, but Sutton has the connections and probably would not cost a ton to land in a trade, either. So, this makes sense on multiple levels for the Steelers.