Brandon Aiyuk Could be Entering His Final Season with the 49ers
It's possible the 49ers and Brandon Aiyuk will agree to a contract extension in the next couple of months. It's also possible they won't.
The 49ers just might not want to give Brandon Aiyuk $30 million per season, and Aiyuk just might not want to play for a team that doesn't feature him. Which means the two sides could be headed for divorce.
The 49ers explored trading Aiyuk before the draft, but no team offered them a first-round pick. If they could have gotten a first for Aiyuk, I'm guessing they would have taken it. But the most they could have gotten for Aiyuk was a second-round pick. So trading him this year didn't make sense.
The 49ers can keep Aiyuk for 2024 and pay him less than half of what he wants, then franchise tag him next year and trade him for a second-round pick. The Chiefs do this all the time with good players they don't want to pay. First, they tagged and traded Dee Ford for a second-round pick in 2019, then the 49ers gave him a ridiculously foolish extension. And this offseason, the Chiefs tagged and traded L'Jarius Snead to the Titans for a 2025 third-round pick so Tennesse could give him an extension.
I wouldn't be surprised if the 49ers do the same thing with Aiyuk. They just drafted his replacement in Ricky Pearsall. I'm not saying Pearsall is as good as Aiyuk, but they have similar skill sets and Pearsall wouldn't be here if the 49ers were eager to capitulate to Aiyuk's demands.
This holdout could get messy.