An NFL insider recently put out a bold statement about why the San Francisco 49ers have not traded Brandon Aiyuk. NFL teams think he’s more of a Mercedes-Benz than Lamborghini. The disgruntled wide receiver met with the 49ers’ brass last week, hoping they could clear some stuff up before training camp.
The meeting went well, but the 49ers’ stance on trading Aiyuk has not changed. They have no reason to rush the process because they hold the majority of the leverage. According to Mike Garofolo with the NFL Network, the 49ers are not close to a deal with Aiyuk or a trade request.
The San Francisco 49ers aren’t closer to a resolution with their WR
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“For Aiyuk and the 49ers, they had conversations recently,” Garafolo said this week via the 49ers Webzone. “They are no closer to a deal, from my understanding, but they are also no closer to a trade request. That’s never been something that he has explored in this case. Besides, he’s got to get back to work sometime before training camp to see if they can get something done.”
Brandon Aiyuk said the 49ers didn’t think there was much hope
As previously discussed on GH, Aiyuk told Ryan Clark with ESPN on the Pivot podcast that the 49ers told him earlier in the offseason that they didn’t believe they’d get on the same page as Aiyuk:
“They told me that they didn’t think that we were on the same page and that they didn’t believe that we were going to, and that was about it at that time,” Aiyuk said. “But it’s part of it. It’s part of the contract negotiations, trying to sway stuff in either direction. So whether that’s 100 percent true or not, I guess that’s still to find out.”
NFL insider believes Aiyuk’s agent couldn’t fetch a deal
Mike Florio with NBC Sports thinks that while Aiyuk hasn’t officially requested a trade, his agent tried to find a suitor before the draft. However, no team was willing to agree to the terms of Aiyuk’s pay demands and/or the 49ers trade demands:
There’s a game of semantics going on between the 49ers and Aiyuk. Even if he hasn’t asked to be traded, we believe his agent was given permission to seek a trade before the draft. The goal, we also believe, was to let Aiyuk realize that no one else was willing to give him the $30 million per year he reportedly has been seeking.
Ultimately, no one was willing to give Aiyuk what he wants in a contract and what the 49ers want in a trade. Otherwise, a trade would have happened.
It’s unclear why Florio believes in the above scenario. Aiyuk’s agent, Ryan Williams, tried to dismiss any reports of trade talks involving his client with other teams before the draft.
What we do know now is that a post-draft trade is much harder for the 49ers and Aiyuk. Teams have spent most of their salary cap before training camp, and any return for Aiyuk won’t be as high after rosters have been filled during and after the draft.
There’s always the possibility of a deadline trade in-season when injuries hit playoff-caliber teams. But that could be too late for Aiyuk to hold out for.
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