After a very long, very drawn-out offseason saga, Brandon Aiyuk and the San Francisco 49ers finally ended their standoff this week, agreeing to a four-year, $120 million contract.
Keeping their star receiver in place was always the best-case scenario after an offseason filled with drama, and now the 49ers are primed to run it back with a core that fell just short in overtime of Super Bowl LVIII against the Kansas City Chiefs.
However, while Aiyuk's new contract is fair within the context of some of the other WR contracts handed out this offseason, it puts the 49ers in a financial bind.
As it stands right now, they have 10 players with a cap hit above $10 million in 2025, including seven above $20 million. Left tackle Trent Williams leads the way at $34.1 million, followed by inside linebacker Fred Warner ($29.2 million) and defensive tackle Javon Hargrave ($28.1 million). Things are only going to get more complicated in the years to come when Deebo Samuel needs a new deal and the cap hits for McCaffrey and Nick Bosa skyrocket.
The reason why the 49ers have been able to extend all their players on such lucrative contracts is because quarterback Brock Purdy, a former seventh-round pick and Mr. Irrelevant, is playing for dirt cheap over the next couple of seasons. His cap hit in 2025, the final season of his rookie deal, is a paltry $1,119,252.
As a seventh-round pick, Purdy doesn't have a fifth-year option that San Francisco can exercise. As such, he'll be extension-eligible next offseason. The team could always apply the franchise tag to Purdy after his fourth season if it's uneasy about giving him a $200 million-plus contract, but that'll only delay the inevitable and potentially drive the quarterback market's price up.
Come 2026, Samuel and George Kittle will be free agents and their cap hits will be far less onerous, but Nick Bosa's cap hit practically doubles that year and Purdy's hypothetical extension would all but wipe out the savings.
And that's where Trent Williams comes in. The veteran left tackle has been holding out all offseason while awaiting a new contract, despite having three seasons remaining on the six-year, $138 million contract he signed back in 2021.
Williams has cap hits above $34 million in both 2025 and 2026, and a new contract could help ease the salary-cap burden, at least in the short term. Given that he's entering his age-36 season, though, the 49ers may be hesitant to give him another five-plus-year deal. And any savings they accrue now will simply make their future more expensive.
Just like it needed Aiyuk, San Francisco needs Williams in order to compete at the level it's aiming for. The 49ers will have to capitulate eventually and sign both the left tackle and the quarterback he protects to lucrative extensions if they hope to remain the class of the NFC.
How they're going to afford everyone is a mystery, if it's even feasible at all. Signing Aiyuk was the right move for a team on the cusp of its sixth Lombardi trophy, but the 49ers don't have enough cap room to have the highest-paid player at every position in the NFL. Sooner or later, the team is going to have to start picking and choosing between its stars.
