Apparently, Brandon Aiyuk's perceived value isn't as high as what he thought it would be, justifying the 49ers' stance with him seeking a trade.
Brandon Aiyuk would like to be paid as one of the top wide receivers in the NFL right now.
Unfortunately for him, not a lot of other teams around the league see things that way, including his own, the San Francisco 49ers.
Combing through all the reports from the offseason, Aiyuk reportedly wanted a deal in the range of $30 million per year, while the Niners were offering something between $26 million and $28 million. While there are more unknown facts between this gap that ultimately created the standoff and led to a subsequent trade request, no deal has gone down.
Despite another plethora of rumors suggesting Aiyuk being dealt was imminent.
Three teams emerged as legitimate trade candidates: the Cleveland Browns, New England Patriots and Pittsburgh Steelers, yet Aiyuk's desire to sign off on a trade hinged on signing an extension, and he reportedly turned down the idea of going to either the Browns or Pats.
That left the Steelers. And while other reports sufaced that suggested a trade was in place between San Francisco and Pittsburgh, no deal has gone through.
We might have just figured out why.
Steelers' contract offer to Brandon Aiyuk was lower than what he wanted
According to Sports Illustrated NFL insider Albert Breer, writing in his weekly MMQB column, the Steelers weren't exactly prepared to give Aiyuk top dollar on a new extension if traded there.
Breer wrote:
"The San Francisco 49ers’ star didn’t want to go to New England, which offered him more than $30 million per year in its proposals, or the Cleveland Browns. The Steelers’ price point was less than $28 million, which put Pittsburgh right in the neighborhood the Niners were inhabiting—with Mike Tomlin’s presence there the drawing card.
That, in turn, pushed Aiyuk back to the table with the Niners."
A couple of things from this.
First, the only team willing to give Aiyuk what he wanted was New England, and Aiyuk reportedly rebuffed that idea.
Second, choosing between an offensive-friendly 49ers offense where he's been the leading receiver the last two years is probably the better option than going to a run-first Steelers offense under coordinator Arthur Smith and with a declining veteran quarterback, Russell Wilson, and an inconsistent youngster in Justin Fields.
In short, Aiyuk can choose to stay put and make things work with the Niners, or he could go to a worse situation, all for about the same kind of money.
San Francisco was likely aware of this and essentially called Aiyuk's bluff, knowing the Steelers weren't likely to send back the kind of compensation it'd agree to in a trade.
And the 49ers also could see Pittsburgh not outbidding them on a new extension for the star receiver either, leaving Aiyuk in a position where he might simply have to settle for whatever the Niners opt to give him.
Even if it's below the kind of value he was originally seeking.
