Are there changes coming to the San Francisco 49ers offense?
With no contract extension in sight, NFL insider Mike Garafolo reports that 49ers wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk has requested a trade. This isn’t totally surprising news if you’ve followed this story over recent months, but now the trade request is apparently formal.
Aiyuk has become arguably one of the NFL’s best wide receivers, or at least he’s on the cusp of being among the elite. Despite playing alongside George Kittle and Deebo Samuel in an offense that regularly ranks low in pass attempts, he’s posted back-to-back seasons of at least 75 catches and over 1,000 receiving yards.
The 26-year-old had his fifth-year option picked up last offseason, which means he’s wrapping up his rookie contract with a fully guaranteed $14.1 million salary. Progress toward inking Aiyuk to a multi-year extension that would make him one of the NFL’s highest paid receivers has not gone as well as hoped for the former Arizona State star.
San Francisco drafted Florida wide receiver Ricky Pearsall at the end of the first round, as well as Arizona’s Jacob Cowing in the fourth round. Clearly there was a contingency of sorts in the 49ers’ draft plans knowing that Aiyuk could be gone.
You might recall that Deebo Samuel had also requested a trade two seasons ago, only for the 49ers to give him his extension (which, by the way, ends in 2025). Will Aiyuk and the 49ers come to terms before training camp starts, or will he be the latest high-profile receiver dealt in a major trade?
Big decisions are coming for the reigning Super Bowl losers.
