Brandon Aiyuk’s relationship with the 49ers after their Super Bowl loss in 2024 has been weird. After that game, Aiyuk and his family criticized Kyle Shanahan and Brock Purdy for his usage. Then, Aiyuk held out almost the entirety of last offseason before eventually signing a massive contract, only to heavily struggle before eventually tearing his ACL. Now, we have even more strange news.
TJ Houshmandzadeh Comments on Brock Purdy
Brandon Aiyuk’s wide receiver coach and former Pro Bowl Wide Receiver, TJ Houshmandzadeh, made some comments on FS1 regarding his thoughts on Brock Purdy’s payday.
“I believe they did overpay for Brock Purdy,” Houshmandzadeh said on Monday. “I would have given Brock Purdy $47 million a year. That would have been the most I’m giving him. We needed you last year. You went 1-6 against playoff teams. We had guys hurt. Christian McCaffrey was out, Trent Williams was out, [Brandon] Aiyuk got hurt, and you couldn’t really get it done.”
Houshmandzadeh brings up the Niners’ record and some of the injuries they had, but doesn’t dive into his individual performance at all. He just says Brock couldn’t get it done and therefore would only give him $47 million AAV. That would be only $6 million a year, and it seems like an arbitrary number.
Houshmandzadeh then doubled down on these comments.
“I think Brock Purdy is a hell of a quarterback, but I’m not giving you money when you’ve shown me, when we need you to take over, you can’t take over,” he stated. “[When] we need you to carry us, you can’t carry us. But at one point, they said Jalen Hurts was overpaid. Now, Jalen Hurts is underpaid. He won a Super Bowl with the Eagles, now he’s underpaid. If Brock Purdy takes the 49ers to the Super Bowl and they win it, then his contract is well worth it. Until he does that, he’s overpaid.”
Everyone is entitled to their opinions, but Houshmandzadeh’s remarks are confusing, to say the least. There’s no breakdown of what Purdy does and doesn’t do well, and how that should impact his pay. It’s only about the accolades compared to a player with a similar salary, which, of course, is heavily impacted by other variables and the teams around them. Overall, an odd way to judge Quarterback salaries.
Houshmandzadeh’s Connection with Brandon Aiyuk
Houshmandzadeh is Brandon Aiyuk’s personal wide receiver coach. He made comments last year regarding how the Niners dealt with Aiyuk’s contract.
“I know you have Trent Williams to worry about and Brock Purdy next year, but if Brandon Aiyuk is not on the Niners…they’re still going to be a very good team…I don’t believe they’re in an NFC Championship Game.”
It’s clear that he views his client as a more important part of the offense than Purdy is.
While these comments aren’t from Aiyuk, it still feels off-putting. It isn’t time to speculate about Purdy and Aiyuk’s relationship, but it’s difficult not to notice the connection Houshmandzadeh and Aiyuk have. The 49ers will need a big-time season from Aiyuk this season, so let’s hope that he’s ready to roll once he’s back and that his relationship with Purdy and the 49ers is in good standing.
