49ers Tried to Trade for Pro Bowl Wide Receiver Before Re-Signing Brandon Aiyuk: Reports

The San Francisco 49ers finally locked up star wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk on Thursday, agreeing to a four-year, $120 million deal.

The 49ers made Aiyuk one of the highest-paid receivers in the league, and most importantly, brought an end to an offseason of drama.

Read more: Highest-Paid NFL Wide Receivers After Brandon Aiyuk, 49ers Extension

Aiyuk’s offseason included a formal trade request, contract negotiations with opposing teams, near completed deals, and a FaceTime with another team’s quarterback in which Aiyuk blatantly said, “They said they don’t want me back.”

Read more: 49ers Star Brandon Aiyuk on Trade Rumors, ‘They Don’t Want Me Back’

In the end, though, Aiyuk returned to San Francisco and will continue his career with the franchise that selected him in the first round of the 2020 NFL Draft.

In the aftermath of the Aiyuk trade, more information came out regarding the 49ers’ trade discussions over the last month-plus.

According to multiple reports — one from The Athletic’s Dianna Russini and one from Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer — the 49ers attempted to get a replacement wide receiver before finalizing an Aiyuk trade.

Russini reports, “The 49ers only were willing to trade Brandon Aiyuk if they could get a top-flight WR to replace him. They offered a third-round pick to Denver for Courtland Sutton and then would’ve dealt Aiyuk to the Steelers, but the Broncos declined the offer.”

Breer added that the 49ers would have acquired second and third-round picks from the Pittsburgh Steelers for Aiyuk, and then would have flipped the third-rounder to the Denver Broncos for Courtland Sutton. However, the Broncos didn’t like the deal, per Russini, and the Steelers didn’t want to trade any players in a deal for Aiyuk, per Breer.

In the end, the 49ers got what they wanted all along. They keep Aiyuk — a homegrown talent who has developed into one of the league’s best wide receivers — and don’t have to add a new receiver with less than two weeks to go until Week 1.

The 49ers fell just short of a Super Bowl victory last season, losing in overtime to the Kansas City Chiefs. General manager John Lynch was adamant all offseason long about keeping this core together, and on Thursday, he finally made it happen with Aiyuk.

The 49ers open their season on Monday, Sept. 9 against the New York Jets. Aiyuk will certainly be on the field as San Francisco kicks off their 2024-25 campaign.

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