Report: 49ers Listening to Trade Offers for WR Brandon Aiyuk
The San Francisco 49ers are reportedly listening to trade offers for star wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk once again.
The Pittsburgh Steelers spent a months-long pursuit of San Francisco 49ers star wide receiver Brandon Aiyik last offseason before he ultimately signed a four-year, $120 million contract extension with the team. New reports now hint he could be back on the trade block.
Last week, it was reported that some teams were “poking around” about potentially trading for Aiyuk and 49ers general manager John Lynch far from shut them down.
“That typically happens with really good players. I remember two years ago having similar conversations. You get calls and you always listen to calls,” Lynch said via Grant Cohn of Sports Illustrated. “Since Kyle (Shanahan) and I have been here, we’ve been the No. 2 cash-spending team. In the last four years, we’re the fourth-highest cash-spending team. So at some point, you have to reset a little bit, or at least recalibrate. You can’t just keep pressing the pedal.”
The 49ers have been paying a lot of their star players of late. Aiyuk along with running back Christian McCaffery, wide receiver Deebo Samuel, tight end George Kittle and left tackle Trent Williams are all among the top-paid players at their positions.
San Francisco also revealed it is planning to extend Kittle and quarterback Brock Purdy this offseason, too. If that is true, there’s only so much money to go around.
Aiyuk, 26, is coming off a disappointing season, during which he recorded just 25 catches for 374 yards before tearing his ACL and MCL in Week 7.
However, parting ways with Aiyuk still feels very unlikely after handing him a big contract. Plus, Lynch said he plans to honor Samuel’s trade request and it’s hard to imagine the 49ers completely tearing their wide receiver room apart.
San Francisco’s roster could look very different in 2025, given their salary cap situation, but Steelers fans shouldn’t get their hopes up again for Aiyuk.
Samuel, on the other hand, seems like a much more realistic option for Pittsburgh.
“We need to get younger,” Lynch said. “I think we’re the oldest team in football after trying to make a run last year. I think it’s good to constantly get younger. Our draft class last year was a great move toward that. We’ll have four picks in the top 100. If the comp picks happen like we see it, we’ll have 10 picks overall. We’re excited about adding more youth to the great core of players we already have.”