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Insider: Steelers Should Trade 1st Rd Pick for 49ers WR Brandon Aiyuk

If Aiyuk doesn't agree to an extension before the trade deadline, Lynch could decide to trade Aiyuk, considering they probably won't be able to get a first-round pick for him next year.
Grant Cohn|
Sep 10, 2023; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA; San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk (11) makes a catch against the Pittsburgh Steelers during the second half at Acrisure Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Gregory Fisher-USA TODAY Sports
Sep 10, 2023; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA; San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk (11) makes a catch against the Pittsburgh Steelers during the second half at Acrisure Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Gregory Fisher-USA TODAY Sports | Gregory Fisher-USA TODAY Sports

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San Francisco 49ers

If the 49ers trade Brandon Aiyuk, it seems likely they'll trade him to the Steelers.

Daniel Jeremiah of The NFL Network recently tweeted this: "If Brandon Aiyuk is truly available via trade (don’t know) I could make a strong argument Pittsburgh would be a perfect match.”

The Steelers have been trying to trade for Aiyuk all offseason, but haven't yet offered the 49ers a first-round pick. Now Steelers Insider Joe Starkey says that Pittsburgh should trade the 2025 first-rounder for Aiyuk.

"They did make a similar trade a few years earlier when they stunned the football world by dealing a first-round pick to Miami for second-year safety Minkah Fitzpatrick," writes Starkey. "The Steelers knew they would eventually have to sign Fitzpatrick to a mega deal, which they did in 2022, making him the highest-paid safety in the NFL."

Starkey brings up a good point, and there are some similarities between Aiyuk and Fitzpatrick. But the Steelers traded for Fitzpatrick midseason -- after Week 2 to be precise. If the 49ers were to trade Aiyuk to Pittsburgh, I would expect that deal to happen midseason as well because a 2025 draft pick wouldn't help the 49ers now, so there would be no urgency to get the deal done before the deadline.

"I would absolutely dangle next year’s first-round pick. I’d compare it to the Fitzpatrick deal," Starkey continued. "You just pretend Aiyuk is your first-round pick, with the catch that you have to pay him like a free agent. Lynch might be inclined to wait, but that doesn’t mean the Steelers shouldn’t make their best offer — if they haven’t already."

I agree that Lynch will be inclined to wait. But if Aiyuk doesn't agree to an extension before the trade deadline, Lynch could decide to trade Aiyuk, considering they probably won't be able to get a first-round pick for him next year.

Stay tuned.

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Grant Cohn
GRANT COHN

Grant Cohn has covered the San Francisco 49ers daily since 2011. He spent the first nine years of his career with the Santa Rosa Press Democrat where he wrote the Inside the 49ers blog and covered famous coaches and athletes such as Jim Harbaugh, Colin Kaepernick and Patrick Willis. In 2012, Inside the 49ers won Sports Blog of the Year from the Peninsula Press Club. In 2020, Cohn joined FanNation and began writing All49ers. In addition, he created a YouTube channel which has become the go-to place on YouTube to consume 49ers content. Cohn's channel typically generates roughly 3.5 million viewers per month, while the 49ers' official YouTube channel generates roughly 1.5 million viewers per month. Cohn live streams almost every day and posts videos hourly during the football season. Cohn is committed to asking the questions that 49ers fans want answered, and providing the most honest and interactive coverage in the country. His loyalty is to the reader and the viewer, not the team or any player or coach. Cohn is a new-age multimedia journalist with an old-school mentality, because his father is Lowell Cohn, the legendary sports columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle from 1979 to 1993. The two have a live podcast every Tuesday. Grant Cohn grew up in Oakland and studied English Literature at UCLA from 2006 to 2010. He currently lives in Oakland with his wife.

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