Blinksportsnews247The San Francisco 49ers are an NFL team that doesn’t always operate like other teams. But generally speaking, they are reliable. Star players have seemingly demanded a new deal during every summer, particularly in recent years. To the dismay of those players who desired their new contract sooner rather than later, the 49ers have extended contracts to TE George Kittle, LB Fred Warner, WR Deebo Samuel, and Edge Nick Bosa, but they did so only in late July or early August (and in Bosa’s case, September).
Though it may not have occurred when the players had hoped, it has still occurred. Kittle’s negotiations for a deal were apparently less amicable than he had planned, Samuel notoriously deleted all 49ers-related content from his social media accounts, and Bosa signed his contract just a few days prior to the regular season starting. However, they were all signed.
Brandon Aiyuk, a wide receiver, is now the one in line to wait. I’ve been one of those telling people that it will be finished by the time training camp rolls around. I only mention this because of the precedent the team has previously set, not because I have any type of insider knowledge. They typically extend contracts with their top talents in this manner.
But this past week, one 49ers insider suggested the 49ers may break away from what they normally do, and allow Aiyuk to play on his fifth-year option so they can decide later what they want to do. Although I still believe that the 49ers won’t trade Aiyuk and that they’ll extend him before the pre-season begins, I’m beginning to wonder if the precedent could be broken this offseason. Could the 49ers do something different with Aiyuk than they’ve done with the others? After all, they did trade DeForest Bucker.
Rob “Stats” Guerrera and 49ers insider Michael Silver of the San Francisco Chronicle were guests on “The Gold Standard Podcast Network” on Thursday. During their conversation, Silver made an intriguing comment regarding the Aiyuk contract situation. Silver isn’t as certain as the majority of the media in that Aiyuk and the team will agree on a contract extension. “If he’s gonna be a pain in the butt, to the level Deebo was, and you just don’t want to deal with that…maybe as the draft approaches, and as you’re in real-time in the draft, and looking at who’s on the board, you’re listening and you’re poking around,” Silver stated. “Therefore, I believe everything is possible.
“I believe they might use the fifth-year option to get him to play. They could, in my opinion, both kick the can and sweeten the fifth year. I believe they could pay him, or move him even in real-time during the draft, knowing it would likely mean Deebo, Kittle, or both are gone after next year, and then you wouldn’t have to worry about it. I’m monitoring the situation as a whole. I know they consider it that way frequently, and it’s an intriguing internal argument.”
One reason we pay attention to what Silver says is that, particularly in the last few weeks, he has demonstrated a track record of being correct when it comes to the 49ers’ intentions or way of thinking. We also need to pay attention to Silver’s suggestion that the 49ers might choose to let Aiyuk play on his fifth-year option and handle the contract later. Particularly since this is not Silver’s only suggestion.
Last week, Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk made the suggestion that the 49ers might want to hold off on offering Aiyuk a new contract until the following offseason. “I think the Vikings, as much as they want to pay Justin Jefferson, I think the 49ers want to wait a year and then pay Brandon Aiyuk,” Florio said. They prefer not to do it right now, though. He is obviously not happy with the way things are going right now, so they might have to move forward and take action right now.”
Naturally, Florio is simply expressing his opinions, and 49ers supporters may choose to ignore him, but the fact that Silver is echoing him shows that the 49ers are at least thinking about it. Aiyuk’s anticipated status as an unrestricted free agency following the 2024 season poses a risk. The 49ers risk losing Aiyuk if they don’t sign him to a contract this summer and let him become a free agent in 2025.
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