The 49ers would surely love to persuade receiver Brandon Aiyuk to play for the team in 2024, at a fifth-year option salary of $14.1 million. Whether Aiyuk is ultimately willing to do that remains to be seen.
Regardless, Mike Garafolo of NFL Media reports that the 49ers and Aiyuk are no closer to a long-term deal.
“For Aiyuk and the 49ers, they had conversations recently,” Garafolo said, via NBC Sports Bay Area. “They are no closer to a deal, from my understanding, but they are also no closer to a trade request. That’s never been something that he has explored in this case.”
There’s a game of semantics going on between the 49ers and Aiyuk. Even if he hasn’t asked to be traded, we believe his agent was given permission to seek a trade before the draft. The goal, we also believe, was to let Aiyuk realize that no one else was willing to give him the $30 million per year he reportedly has been seeking.
Ultimately, no one was willing to give Aiyuk what he wants in a contract and what the 49ers want in a trade. Otherwise, a trade would have happened.
If Aiyuk wants something more than the $14.1 million he’s due to make, he might have to take a stand. Whether he does or doesn’t remains to be seen. The deeper question is whether the 49ers will blink for Aiyuk, the same way they did a year ago with defensive end Nick Bosa.