ESPN’s Graziano believes Aiyuk trade ‘most likely’ outcome for 49ers originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area
The 49ers are headed for a salary cap conundrum, but it’s nothing the reigning NFC champions haven’t figured out before.
And while contract restructuring has worked in the past for San Francisco, ESPN’s Dan Graziano doesn’t see it playing out that way this time around with so many high-profile 49ers on the payroll — and one star receiver due for a lucrative payday.
The most likely outcome, Graziano posited, rather than a lot of restructuring or heartbreaking cuts, is that the 49ers don’t extend Brandon Aiyuk and instead trade him to an NFL team willing to pay him what he’s worth.
“To me, the most likely way this shakes out is Aiyuk ends up getting traded to a team where he’s the clear No. 1 wideout and where he can get the extension he wants, leaving the Niners to draft his replacement in the first round,” Graziano wrote. “That’s the cleanest way for them to address all of their other needs. I see San Francisco extending [Talanoa] Hufanga and coming to some sort of arrangements with [Kyle] Juszczyk and [Dre] Greenlaw that keep them both around.
“That leaves the Niners to run it back with the same basic core, some upgrades in key spots and Aiyuk cheering them on from afar.”
Extending Aiyuk certainly is the 49ers’ top offseason priority, as he approaches the fifth and final season of his rookie contract. But with top-paid players at plenty of other positions, these things aren’t as easy as San Francisco would love them to be.
An Aiyuk extension completed this summer would reduce the wideout’s $14.2 million cap hit in 2024, but given the receiver market, the back end of the deal could impact whether or not the 49ers are able to pay quarterback Brock Purdy when the time comes due to the other lucrative contracts on the books.
Two of those contracts belong to defensive end Nick Bosa and wide receiver Deebo Samuel, both of whom were offseason “hold-ins” as the…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/espns-graziano-believes-aiyuk-trade-003136280.html
Author : NBC Sports BayArea
Publish date : 2024-02-22 00:31:36
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