During a Friday appearance on “The Pat McAfee Show,” ESPN NFL insider Adam Schefter suggested that the San Francisco 49ers and wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk were at least somewhat close to coming to terms on a contract extension before other players at the position signed big-money deals this offseason.
Schefter’s update isn’t all that surprising, as Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated previously passed along that the extensions received by Jaylen Waddle of the Miami Dolphins and Amon-Ra St. Brown of the Detroit Lions were impacting San Francisco’s ability to get something done with Aiyuk. For what it’s worth, Breer is among the noteworthy reporters who think the 49ers will hold onto Aiyuk through this fall even though the 26-year-old (who is in the final year of his rookie contract) curiously said in a video earlier this week that “they don’t want me back.”
While Aiyuk has been the subject of some trade rumors since before this year’s draft, Schefter said on Friday that the Niners “never were serious about trading” the 2020 first-round draft pick this offseason.
“No, they want him here,” Schefter added about the 49ers and Aiyuk. “They just don’t want him at the number that he wants to be there at, with what the wide receivers are going for in this day and age.”
Schefter noted how 49ers offensive weapon Deebo Samuel asked to be traded in the spring of 2022, before the star ultimately signed a three-year contract extension to stay with San Francisco that summer.
It’s unclear if Aiyuk will threaten to sit meaningful games out in an attempt to either receive a deal from the 49ers or orchestrate a trade ahead of the team’s regular-season opener versus the New York Jets on Sept. 9. Aiyuk isn’t due to report to training camp until July 23 and plenty can happen regarding this contract standoff between the upcoming weekend and that Tuesday.
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