FINALLY! It’s over. It’s all over
It’s over. It’s finally, over. The San Francisco 49ers offseason drama regarding wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk is coming to a close. Mike Garafolo reports that the 49ers and Aiyuk agreed on a four-year, $120 million extension. The deal also includes $76 million guaranteed, per NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport.
That means Aiyuk is staying. After speculation of trading, staying, and trading, of course.
We’ll keep an eye out for contract specifics before we start talking about who is expendable on the roster and how the 49ers manage to do this deal, especially when offensive tackle Trent Williams wants to get “paid-paid.”
For now, Aiyuk gets his deal. It was reported that Aiyuk was looking for Amon-Ra St. Brown money, and that’s definitely in the neighborhood.
Rather than another “boring” offseason regarding around who the 49ers might start at quarterback, 2024 was all about Aiyuk the moment the season ended. He expressed openness to return to the team if the situation was right, but from there, the craziness happened; the league started driving Brinks’ trucks into wide receivers’ lawns—skyrocketing Aiyuk’s possible price.
Numerous deals were offered, but due to nothing getting done, Aiyuk requested a trade. The 49ers offered him to the New England Patriots, who would pay Aiyuk, but they Aiyuk declined. The 49ers then offered him to the Cleveland Browns in a deal that included Amari Cooper, but again, Aiyuk declined. The Pittsburgh Steelers were in the mix, with an offer consistent with the 49ers, but they couldn’t come up with adequate compensation to get John Lynch to pull the trigger.
There’s also the infamous “They don’t want me back” video. Aiyuk certainly had some fun with the whole thing, keeping everyone guessing. Things got worse when Aiyuk formally requested a trade, despite the 49ers having all the leverage. Aiyuk also took to social media a few times to keep everyone guessing. Thankfully, it wasn’t Mr. Big Chest levels of obnoxiousness.
The deciding factor was the 2024 NFL Draft. What the 49ers did on Day 1, would give us an answer of what was going on. While the 49ers drafted Ricky Pearsall, Aiyuk didn’t go anywhere. From that point forward, it was obvious they at least would play him on his fifth-year option.
This has the 49ers wide receiver room consisting of names like Deebo Samuel, Jauan Jennings, Brandon Aiyuk, Ricky Pearsall, and Jacob Cowing, among others. That’s a pretty strong group, with Pearsall and Cowing learning from some of the best.
This also may raise questions about what happens to Samuel, either this season or after 2024. The 49ers gave Aiyuk a lot of money, and some difficult decisions will need to be made when Brock Purdy’s contract extension comes around in 2025. This is also factoring in that aforementioned new contract Trent Williams wants.
It’s all in the details which will be whispered about in the coming days so we’ll be looking to see where the guarantees come in, injury, bonuses etc before we see how much the team really paid out. The 49ers are notoriously good at navigating the cap.
We will provide an update on the specifics of the contract once they are available. But we no longer have to wonder what the 49ers offense will look like without its top receiver. Aiyuk is here to stay. It’s safe to say he’ll be at practice on Thursday.