Will the 49ers Trade Brandon Aiyuk to the New England Patriots?

On the Patriots, Aiyuk would be the go-to guy in the passing game. They'd throw him the ball more than 150 times per season, an amount which would allow them to justify paying him so much money.

If Brandon Aiyuk won't compromise with the 49ers during their contract negotiations, it would make sense for them to trade him to a team such as the Patriots. Here's why.

The Patriots can afford to pay Aiyuk whatever he wants, because they don't have any other high-priced wide receivers, nor do they have an expensive quarterback. They're going to draft their starting quarterback in a couple weeks. What better way to set up that player for success than to give him an established, elite wide receiver such as Aiyuk?

On the Patriots, Aiyuk would be the go-to guy in the passing game. They'd throw him the ball more than 150 times per season, an amount which would allow them to justify paying him so much money.

On the 49ers, Aiyuk never will be the go-to guy. He'll be one of the guys. They'll never throw him more than 120 passes in a season.

So sure, the 49ers would love to keep Aiyuk, but they can't give him the ball as much as he wants, and they're already paying a ton of money for Deebo Samuel, plus they will give Brock Purdy a gigantic extension next year.

When Samuel was eligible for an extension, he eventually compromised with the 49ers and met them in the middle, because no other team would trade for him and pay him what he wanted. Aiyuk could be different. Aiyuk probably could get more money on a team that doesn't have Deebo Samuel under contract.

And that brings us back to the Patriots. They have a high second-round pick and a high third-round pick. They could send those to the 49ers for Aiyuk, and the 49ers could use one of them to draft Aiyuk's replacement.

This seems like a move that would make sense for both teams.