The Cleveland Browns were willing to break the bank to add Brandon Aiyuk to the fold, but the money wasn’t enough to get the star wide receiver on board with a trade.
Aiyuk inked a four-year extension worth $120 million with the San Francisco 49ers on Thursday, August 29, officially closing the book on any deal that could have made him a Brown. However, ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported earlier in the day — before the news of the contract broke — that a trade to Cleveland had long been a non-starter for Aiyuk.
“The holdup with Cleveland all along hasn’t been whether or not the Browns have cap space. The holdup there has been Brandon Aiyuk’s willingness to accept a trade to Cleveland,” Schefter said on “The Pat McAfee Show.” “The contract would have been done there if he wanted to go.”
Schefter added that the Browns were willing to pay Aiyuk more than any of his other top suitors, including the 49ers, who ended up agreeing to pay the wideout $30 million annually starting in 2025 and running through 2028. However, Cleveland’s money wasn’t enough to move Aiyuk off of his position.
“[The Browns] already were offering more money than Pittsburgh, more money than San Francisco,” Schefter added. “That wasn’t the issue. The issue simply was that he preferred to go elsewhere.”
Aiyuk finished last season with 75 receptions for a career high 1,342 receiving yards and 7 TDs.
Browns Tried to Repeat History With Big-Money Move for Brandon Aiyuk
Aiyuk didn’t have a no-trade clause. However, as he was entering the fifth and final year of his rookie contract, he was able to essentially void trades by telling suitors like the Browns that he wouldn’t sign an extension to remain with them beyond 2024.
The trade price for Aiyuk would have certainly been a first-round pick and then some, and no franchise was going to toss one of those away for one year of a good player. That is doubly true for Cleveland after the massive mistake the front office made in trading three first-rounders, plus several other picks, to the Houston Texans in March 2022 for the right to pay quarterback Deshaun Watson a fully guaranteed five-year deal worth $230 million.
Watson was out on the Browns during that trade courtship saga, which saw the three-time Pro Bowler entertain interest from several teams, until Cleveland came with an over-the-top offer that no other suitor was willing to match. But general manager Andrew Berry’s attempt to repeat his own disastrous history in hopes of a better outcome with a similar play for Aiyuk fell short.
Browns Can Pursue Expensive Talent After Restructuring Deshaun Watson’s Contract
The Browns can still pursue more offensive firepower alongside receivers Amari Cooper and Jerry Jeudy after restructuring Watson’s contract Thursday.
Cleveland opened up nearly $36 million in space by converting almost $45 million of Watson’s base salary in 2024 into a signing bonus. The move gave Cleveland more than $62 million in salary cap space, per Daniel Oyefusi of ESPN.
However, Oyefusi reported that the Browns will earmark most of that room for next season.
“The Browns are expected to roll over the majority of the cap space to have financial flexibility in the 2025 offseason, when they are already projected to be $44 million over the cap, according to ESPN’s Roster Management System,” Oyefusi wrote Thursday. “Wide receivers Amari Cooper and Elijah Moore, running back Nick Chubb and left tackle Jedrick Wills Jr. are among Cleveland’s free agents next offseason.”
