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Multiple Teams Have Interest in Trading for 49ers WR Brandon Aiyuk

Here we go again.
Grant Cohn|
Oct 6, 2024; Santa Clara, California, USA; San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk (11) after the game against the Arizona Cardinals at Levi's Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kelley L Cox-Imagn Images
Oct 6, 2024; Santa Clara, California, USA; San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk (11) after the game against the Arizona Cardinals at Levi's Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kelley L Cox-Imagn Images | Kelley L Cox-Imagn Images

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San Francisco 49ers

Here we go again.

A year after the 49ers spent all offseason almost trading Brandon Aiyuk to multiple teams, once again multiple teams have interest in trading for Aiyuk according to The Athletic's Dianna Russini.

"Brandon Aiyuk is a player that a lot of teams had interest in before he signed that deal last year," Russini said. "Remember, he signed that four-year, $120 million deal. There are some teams poking around now to see if the 49ers would be willing to deal Aiyuk."

Of course, they are. This should come as no surprise.

The 49ers were in the process of trading Aiyuk to the Pittsburgh Steelers after training camp when Kyle Shanahan literally ran into the front office to stop the trade. He insisted that the 49ers meet Aiyuk's demands, which the front office didn't want to do. Then Aiyuk struggled early in the season before he went down with a torn ACL, MCL and meniscus.

So if the 49ers front office didn't want to pay Aiyuk $30 million per season last year, they almost certainly don't want to pay him all that money after his massive knee injury. And they might be less inclined to listen to Shanahan's opinion about which players to keep and which players to trade.

The 49ers can't justify paying Aiyuk all that money when he might not be a No. 1 receiver when he returns from this injury. Plus, they're probably going to make Brock Purdy one of the highest-paid players in the league. Plus, George Kittle should get a significant extension this offseason, too.

The 49ers should have traded Aiyuk last offseason. Had they done so, they would have gotten a first- or second-round pick. Now, they probably will get no higher than a third- or fourth-round pick for him. And the 49ers should trade him anyway.

Move on.

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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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