Another blockbuster wide receiver trade could be brewing on the back of Stefon Diggs being dealt to the Houston Texans, with San Francisco 49ers star Brandon Aiyuk thought to be on the verge of a move himself.
According to the NFL Notifications X/Twitter account, the Niners are reportedly “very likely” to trade the widout as they haven’t been able to agree on a new deal.
The source notes that the team would prefer waiting until the NFL Draft comes around to make sure that they can get their man but are already deciding on the compensation package they want in return for a Brandon Aiyuk trade.
The 49ers Insist They Have No Plans To Trade Brandon Aiyuk
49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan doesn’t expect to see Aiyuk leave, however, and has compared his situation to the ones involving Deebo Samuel, George Kittle, and Fred Warner.
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“I’ve watched it with Deebo, George, Fred, all these guys,” Shanahan said, per ESPN. “You’ve just got to be patient. You’ve got to let it play itself out, not get involved, and usually when you’re in a situation like we are where you’ve got a real good player who wants to be here and we want the player to be here extremely bad too, what I found with us it doesn’t always happen right away, but it’s a matter of time it ends up working out.“
That the team reached those deals is all part of the reason it’s believed that Brandon Aiyuk will be traded, taking the salary cap restrictions into consideration.
The Niners have several players earning top-dollar in truth, but they had already taken a longer view where Aiyuk is concerned. According to team sources, the plan from 2023 was to extend Brandon Aiyuk this year as long as he stayed healthy and showed progress from his breakout season in 2022.
“There’s nothing better than drafting a guy, developing a guy, watching him flourish and then rewarding him,” general manager John Lynch said last month. “That’s really what we’d love to do.”
We’ll just have to wait and see.
