The San Francisco 49ers have a difficult decision to make when it comes to top wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk.
The 2023 All-Pro is coming off a 1,300-yard season in which he helped guide the Niners back to the Super Bowl and helped make Brock Purdy one of the league’s most efficient quarterbacks. It was by far his best year as a pro and the kind of performance that would typically solidify his place in the San Francisco lineup.
Except he may be too good for the 49ers to afford. San Francisco’s star-laden roster is loaded with high-priced players and is one of only three teams projected to be over next year’s estimated salary cap, per Over The Cap. Not only could Kyle Shanahan’s team be cutting costs next spring, but it will also have to consider a handful of pending free agents who’ll be headed to the open market in 2025.
Aiyuk is one of them and could be looking at a $30 million annual salary. That’s led to speculation about a potential trade, similar to how the Tennessee Titans shipped off A.J. Brown to the Philadelphia Eagles in order to avoid giving him a four-year, $100 million contract extension in 2022. On Monday, general manager John Lynch told the media his Niners weren’t in the market for an Aiyuk trade and that he wanted his star wideout on the roster going forward.
That spurred this response from the former first round pick.
Brandon Aiyuk’s latest IG story 👀 pic.twitter.com/lp8RDR399N
— 49ers on NBCS (@NBCS49ers) March 25, 2024
Almost every wide receiver’s Tweets and/or Instagram stories are cryptic, but this one feels pretty clear. Money talks and bull, uh, poop walks. If Lynch really wants Aiyuk to stick around, there’s one way to get that done. Give him a contract befitting one of the league’s top four wideouts.
That won’t be cheap, especially for a team that will also have big decisions to make about fellow 2025 free agents like Dre Greenlaw and Tanaloa Hufanga while considering a potential contract extension for Purdy. There are a lot of moving parts in play here, and while Aiyuk’s ability to put San Francisco’s offense on his shoulders makes him a worthy expense, the 49ers may not be able to pay it unless they make some other moves first.
