The San Francisco 49ers have backed themselves into a corner, and there doesn’t appear to be an easy way out.
They now have zero ways to win the Brandon Aiyuk contract negotiation.
We have an exceedingly small range of outcomes here because there are apparently two teams Aiyuk was willing to sign with long-term, and only one of them was willing to enter serious trade talks for him.
The Pittsburgh Steelers are the only team that meets the three requirements necessary for a trade to get done. Aiyuk is willing to play there. They’re willing to pay him. And now the 49ers are willing to accept whatever trade package the Steelers are offering, which appears to indicate they’re unwilling to enforce their leverage of having Aiyuk under contract for 2024.
Part of the problem for the 49ers is that negotiating with one team leaves them without a ton of leverage. The only way they can drive up the price is by not accepting a deal, but the longer they go on without accepting a deal the longer they go without having a resolution to their problem.
Any trade they make with the Steelers is not going to land the 49ers the compensation they’d receive if they were able to deal Aiyuk to any team. That’s a loss.
The Steelers are also unlikely to send back the type of compensation that would make up for the 49ers’ loss of Aiyuk this season. That’s another loss.
Of course, there’s always the chance Aiyuk re-signs with the 49ers. That would be a win, but it would mean San Francisco budging on a deal it stood so firm on that it reached this point of having to possibly trade the wide receiver in the first place.
They were set on not letting the receiver win the negotiation, and in the process will have lost the negotiation while simultaneously creating unnecessary drama to start the season. Not to mention they’re trying this season to do something only one other team has done this century by going back to the Super Bowl a year after losing it.
There are no realistic ways for this to end where the 49ers come out on the winning side. For fans and 49ers players, having Aiyuk back would be a sigh of relief. It would be a much-needed win in a tumultuous offseason.
For the organization, it would ultimately be a losing result because that’s all there is left for them. They either trade the receiver for below market value and hurt their chances of winning in 2024, or they get beat in a negotiation and pay Aiyuk more than they wanted.
Hopefully they’re exploring ways to clean up their negotiating tactics before Week 18 wraps and quarterback Brock Purdy becomes the next player up for a massive contract extension.
