The Brandon Aiyuk contract saga may not have needed to take as long as it did.
Aiyuk and the San Francisco 49ers agreed to a four-year, $120 million deal with $76 million guaranteed according to NFL Media’s Ian Rapoport.
That’s not a major surprise. A deal in the $30 million per year range always seemed to be the logical conclusion. If the $76 million guaranteed is the full guarantee, it would make it the second-most guaranteed money among NFL wide receivers. The full structure of the deal is still unknown, but Rapoport reported the deal is front-loaded, which is atypical for 49ers deals.
Perhaps that was the hang-up in negotiations. However, the hold-in didn’t need to last as long as it did.
According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, the deal Aiyuk accepted was proposed by the 49ers three weeks prior to Aiyuk agreeing.
That means he held in to gain nothing.
Aiyuk’s agent took to Twitter to refute Schefter’s report.
If Schefter’s report is true, perhaps Aiyuk was hoping the 49ers would cave and offer even more money. Without a counter-offer from Aiyuk’s side it’s hard to imagine there was going to be any movement from San Francisco.
This helps explain some of the outward frustration from general manager John Lynch when he spoke to media in a press conference Wednesday. If their deal had been on the table for three weeks they were simply waiting on Aiyuk to make a decision and he took his time.
By avoiding accepting the deal until Thursday, Aiyuk skipped the entire preseason and will now return to practice in time for Week 1 sessions, which commence Thursday of Week 1.
