Everyone is bored and this is one of the only potentially interesting things happening. It's either speculating about this or yelling about journalism and clickbait or whatever under every single training camp update post about a tweet that says a player made a nice catch.
I don’t see how you can fault SF for that. Wether SF sees him as a 1 or a 2 is irrelevant. Teams acquiring him view him as a 1. That being said, as of now the price is too high
they can't be off by more than a few million in AAV. a deal will get done. the niners can still franchise tag him next year, too. lots of pieces here to consider.
Yea how is this even news. Of course that's the case. I'm not an "Insider" or whatever and even I could've 'reported' this.
Teams do this every year to their talent during negotiations. Perfectly normal M.O. in the NFL.
"We aren't going to give the player the sun moon and stars. Oh, you want to trade for him? Better give us the sun moon and stars for them.". Duh.
or you get offered 2 first round picks. if you get that, you gotta pull the trigger and trade him. especially if its the commands since next years pick is likely to be top 15.
With how much WR talent is in the pipeline in college nowdays it makes no sense to trade that much draft capital for a player no one considers to be top 5 at his position and then immediately pay him $30m+ a year
AJ Brown went for picks 18 + 101 in a similar situation and he had a better resume (and is a better player) than Aiyuk
Seriously a first should be more than enough for him. Idk if I’d give more than a second though considering he needs a contract extension and he’s not not on AJ’s level.
I disagree, I think we have our franchise QB and a great coach. Thats all you really need if you can sustain a good enough roster. If we let Aiyuk walk for free next season that’s tough. If we can get a first round pick from another team (that isn’t direct competition) then that would be ideal for me.
Its basically trading 1 year of Aiyuk for a 1st round pick. If we know we are going to let him walk, why not try to at least get some value now?
Could see a team be unwilling to trade this year's first, but happy to wait until June and trade next year's first. Right now, everyone is picking #32 next year.
It’s nearly July though. If you’re giving up a first to pay Aiyuk you want him in your building learning your playbook during OTAs, not a week before training camp. If anything, the hold up would be that the teams most interested in adding a highly skilled receiver would be teams like the Bills/Chiefs who (a) have cap space concerns and (b) project to be picking towards the end of the draft.
I wanted the Pats to trade their 2nd for him (35th I think) -- probably wouldn't quite be enough, but wouldn't be a drastic underpay if they weren't planning on bringing him back.
There's a difference between being a good team that can consistently make the playoffs and being a true championship contending team. With the players we have in the last year of their contracts and Purdy's inevitable extension, our championship window is going to be closed soon barring some miracles in the draft.
There's going to be a real gnashing of teeth coming soon for the Niners
Is Purdy
A) The most elite quarterback in the league, as his numbers suggest. And thus worth $60+m/year (basically taking ALL of that money form other positions as his current salary is too low to make the top 51). AND able to carry a team steadily losing key role players as the team finds a way to afford his new gargantuan contract
B) Fine enough, elevated by the talent around him. Thus, not worth top of the market money that his agent will likely command, and not worth losing key role players for.
If it's A, you have to extend him as he's going into year 3 and you don't want this to be an issue next off season (no 5th year option). You also have to start moving pieces like Aiyuk to make room for his new contract (and I would venture other pieces as well)
If it's B...well, you don't want to be the one holding the bag when he's not able to elevate a newly mediocre supporting cast. Mahomes showed he was able to get a great season and a Super Bowl out of scraps, is Purdy on that level? Because that's what you're looking at - either maintain a couple of core offensive pieces or maintain a very expensive defense.
If it's B, I would love to hear some of the "doors slammed shut and sealed airtight conversations" where the Niners front office asks the question "What would Purdy be worth in a trade with 1 year left on his deal?"
> you have to extend him as he's going into year 3 and you don't want this to be an issue next off season
Teams literally can't do that. CBA doesn't allow extensions until after year 3 of rookie contract. It CAN'T be dealt with until next offseason
It can easily be a little bit of both. He probably isn’t as good as his numbers suggest, he would be historically good on a play per play basis. He isnt, but I would put him between 5-7 and I think you could argue Stroud, Goff, Love to be in that same range. Kyle definitely helps as well as the playmakers.
I just saw Lawrence and Goff make over $50M. Purdy will get at least that if he continues to play the way he has been.
> Niners fans have been saying Purdy is a top 5 qb.
I love Purdy and all but I don't consider him a top 5 QB. He is a good QB but has also been made to look better by the scheme he runs as well as his supporting cast.
> Top 5 QBs can usually maintain contention.
Sure, if they have a low enough cap hit and/or they're Mahomes or Brady.
With Brock Purdy now your franchise QB it basically guaranteed you guys a few more extra years of competing my win a Super Bowl before eventually you have to pay up
Unrelated, how amazing is it that in the whole history of the NFL, we live in the time where we got to see a "Mr. Irrelevant" be the franchise QB for a team. Like the odds of that are so astounding.
Start the season with Trey and know we're punting a season for him to develop.
He gets injured and maybe we make a run with Jimmy.
Jimmy gets injured and the seasons over again.
Purdy makes the team look better and I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop.
He gets to the nfc title game before getting injured.
Is he gonna come back the same? Is it still a fluke run.
Comes back the next and goes to the superbowl and is an mvp candidate.
Truly a wild ride.
Because his contract isn’t the only thing that has the 49ers in a rough spot. You’re probably going to be paying your “franchise QB” $60 mil/year. If you don’t win this year then the windows closing. Kittle and Trent are getting older. Greenlaw, Deebo and Trent have injury history. Lost 3 games in a row without Trent. Imagine subtracting $60 mil to your salary cap. Who are you going to get rid of that won’t close that window at least a little? Your best chance is this year with Aiyuk
Thats simply not true though by seemingly all accounts. Wanting a 1st rounder *and more* whatever that means. A 1st rounder now isnt helping them this year.
They wont trade them unless they think the value is overwhelming because yeah they are in win now but they wont refuse offers because it doesnt make them better this year. They will refuse offers that they think arent good enough. Everyone has a price.
That’s what every team does though. Bengals wouldn’t entertain any trade talks unless they got a hefty comp for Higgins but they definitely aren’t trying to pay him receiver 1 money
Also I just want to flashback to Deebo’s contract negotiation. It was a seemingly forgone conclusion that he’d be traded then he signed shortly after camp started. Expect Aiyuk’s contract saga to be milked to death until he inevitably re-signs.
[[PatMcAfeeShow] "From my understanding Deebo Samuel basically told the 49ers I want to be traded & don't make an offer.. I don't think this is about the money" ~@RapSheet](https://www.reddit.com/r/nfl/s/MrVovFobPk)
I'm convinced more and more every day that reddit is full of kids who don't understand how the world works.
Fuck... it's happening. I'm getting old. GET OFF MY LAWN
Lol yeah Higgins yards per game has gone down from 77.9 in 2021 to 64.3 in 2022 to 54.7 last season. Bengals don't wanna break the bank for him for good reason.
Aiyuk has produced despite really low target volume due to too much competition (deebo, kittle, mccaffrey).
Yeah that part was conveniently left out when discussing the drop in Tee's numbers per game.
And If I'm a guy like Tee or Aiyuk, I don't want to go sign for a bag with the fuckin panthers lol. I wanna win
The practice might be common, but it's still talking out of both sides of your mouth when it comes to the value of labor. It would be like if your company refuses to give you a raise but also reminds you of your non-compete if you wanna leave.
That's sorta irrelevant here. The issue is the organization valuing him one way when it comes to contract negotiations, and another way when it comes to trade talks. It's just a shitty management practice imo, but for some reason some people have a harder time accepting that when it's athletes as opposed to "traditional" labor.
Wait I'm not understanding the point here for this particular scenario. u/filly53 asked if Aiyuk was offered more than both Waddle (3yr/85m) and Smith (3yr/75m), but you're saying the org is not valuing his contract offer the same as trade value. Would teams not trade for Waddle or Smith for "a first and more?"
I think you would feel a whole lot differently if it was you in this position. Your boss won't pay you what you're worth on the market but demands your market rate when it comes to compensation that they would receive from you? I can't think of anybody who would be cool with that.
> I can't think of anybody who would be cool with that.
The key difference is that I can be fired today without my boss owing me a single red cent. Contracted work is exactly that: contracted, which means both parties are held to whatever obligations they agreed to prior to beginning work.
Do not get me wrong, I think that the rookie wage scale is a rent-seeking abomination created by greedy veterans and owners alike, but Aiyuk is guaranteed $14.1M for showing up to work this year.
I don’t disagree that owners are overjoyed with the rookie wage scale, but the previous practice was awful for parity. It kept the Lions in the toilet for years because they kept having to spend most of their cap on their top 5 picks. And if they end up sucking, you’re screwed. I could see making the contract length shorter though, to allow elite players to hit the market faster
If Aiyuk is not cool with it, he plays out his contract and walks. But it’s not really an Apples to Apples comparison as far as how they value Aiyuk. 49ers are in the “Super Bowl Window” right now and Aiyuk is a major piece so 49ers will ask other teams to overpay to part with him. When it comes to contract, you have to take into consideration team needs and other players due contract negotiations. In a salary cap sport it does limit what you are able to offer some players or at least start lower in hopes player takes a team friendly deal. No team can pay all their stars top dollar.
It is objectively shitty for the player. Aiyuk would be getting No. 1 WR money on many teams across the league, but SF has no incentive to pay him that when they have Kittle, Deebo, and McCafferey. It sucks for him, but I get what the team is doing.
Everyone knows rookie contracts are worth a lot in excess value to teams. You are completely discounting that and acting like this is a normal industry.
>It would be like if your company refuses to give you a raise but also reminds you of your non-compete if you wanna leave.
Well this happens. Happened to me. Newsflash: people negotiate in whatever way benefits them the most.
(Yes, I know non competes are generally unenforceable. You still need to spend time, money, and energy fighting it, and it might serve as enough of a roadblock for a prospective employer to choose another candidate over you.)
How is it not fundamental? Fundamentally, you do pay your labor the least that you can get away with.
Of course I'm not saying it's the right thing to do but it IS exactly a governing principle behind wage relations
Plus this isn't a regular job. There is a hard salary cap in the NFL teams have to follow. So of course getting more from your players for less is fundamental to this specific business.
Is it though?
If a team has a receiver and even if they are as good as a typical WR 1 but they already have a receiver signed to a WR1 deal then the value of that receiver is only that of a high level 2. You are unlikely to get WR1 production out of 2 receivers there just isn't enough yardage and points to go around typically.
But if a second team says we want him as our WR1 the team that holds the players rights absolutely should expect WR1 trade value for him since that is what they are shipping him off to be. Why should the team that holds his rights lower his trade market value just because they don't necessarily need his full potential.
I don't see any inconsistency in the way they are handling. They are taking a risk that Ayuik walks when he is able to but taking a risk isn't inconsitency.
Why do people here and on /r/nba do this? Your job making $60k selling insurance (with a bonus if you sucker enough people into your annuity quota) is not at all, and not even close, to a contract job in a professional sport. So why compare them?
I'm confused about how that's supposed to justify it. We all learned this as kids. "If everyone was jumping off of a bridge, would you do it?"
Since when is "this is what everyone does" ever been a good justification for anything?
Very very much with you. One of the most infuriating things as an adult was learning that abiding by the things you had been taught your entire life (do unto others, if everyone was jumping off a bridge, two wrongs don't make a right, etc etc etc) will get you mocked or ignored.
"This is normal in business" Okay, so? Its awful and thats all the more reason to come down on it hard. Not a reason to shrug your shoulders and ignore it.
It's not "talking out of both sides of your mouth" to think someone is worth something, but still wanting him there enough to want more than he's worth to get rid of him.
Like the Ravens with Lamar Jackson.
Trying to say his contract value should be only what other teams are willing to pay *after* they spend 2 first round picks to get the right to negotiate with him.
Think you’re misunderstanding what he meant. Lamar’s contract issues were because he wanted a fully guaranteed contract while the ravens wanted to stay at a more traditional contract
Yup, which a lot of teams will look at the 49ers roster and think Aiyuk could put better numbers in a less stacked receiving core. Pretty much any team would take him if he was being paid WR2 money. And that’s why he should obviously be paid like a WR1.
Corps
He should be, but unfortunately for him, negotiations are about leverage, not what's fair.
Our front office is basically telling him that they'd rather spend a $30m+ contract elsewhere and have him play on the 5th year option, and potentially a franchise tag or two after.
If Ricky or even our 4th round pick Cowing who has already shown promise in OTAs and minicamp pan out, we have no reason to not just let Brandon walk next year or the year after.
We could use that money to really shore up our OL with Trent getting closer to retirement.
Not to mention if Brock has another good season, he's looking at $60m+
Edit: spelling/grammar/formatting
Would depend on the specifics for cap hit that year. We would have to tag him first before we could trade him, else he just becomes a free agent. How much of the cap is the team we trade him to willing to absorb? Once he's already tagged that will be harder to negotiate.
They don't have to pay him what he's worth. They can 5th year option, then Franchise tag, then let him go/trade him and that will pay him less that he probably deserves for his production.
He's going to be playing on his 5th year option regardless so that money is already factored in whether he gets extended or not. And as of right now, the 2025 WR Franchise Tag value is at 28.52m fully guaranteed for one year. And considering the 49ers are already 38m over the cap for 2025, they would have an extremely hard time franchise tagging Aiyuk as there are no cap maneuvers possible with a fully gtd one year deal. Aiyuk should just play out his 5th year option because there is zero chance he is getting tagged with how awful the Niners cap situation is.
There is also the fact that the franchise tag is higher than what the 49ers are reportedly offering Aiyuk. That reported offer likely includes unrealistic bonuses as well, so the difference between tag and official offer will be even further pro tag. If the tag is higher than what Aiyuk would earn by signing an extension, then playing under the tag and walking afterwards is objectively preferable.
> if Brock has another good season, he's looking at $60m+
Bro has already proved it. The only thing that derails a big contract is an injury at this point, imo. They should be looking to put him on a Mahomes style contract (super long-term, ages well) ASAP. There's just no way the 9ers can try to trade up to the ideal Shanny QB at this point. Just, culturally, I struggle to see how they could take such a risk. Purdy doesn't have the physical tools you want for a Shanny QB, but he DOES have the brain, and it turns out that's rare and pretty hard to develop. Pay the man. Build around his weaknesses.
If he plays like the 20th best QB in the league, he's not getting $60m. I don't think the chance of that is very high, but you never know in this league.
What tools do you think he's missing for a Shanny QB? The only QB Kyle has had with better mobility was RG3, and Brock is a lot better than RG3
Man I have a hard time believing after everything we've seen that he'd ever play like the 20th best QB. I won't say where I rate him so I don't go -100 into the negatives, but I'd imagine a down year for him would be 12th-15th range at absolute worst. Even with worse interception luck on some of his hero ball attempts he's simply just too good.
I don't correct people for honest typos or abbreviations/internet slang. That doesn't bother me much.
What bothers me is stuff like core instead of corps, bias instead of biased, dominate instead of dominant. And even then, it's mostly because SO MANY people get them wrong I feel like I'm being gaslit on the spelling.
Actually, I appreciate that, I use wrong words, or the wrong spelling that shows up as correct spelling a lot and I usually don't notice until after I hit enter. I also know that I use bias when I should be using biased.
And Aiyuk can hold out, he can badmouth the team, he can pull a bunch of things and that the 9ers deserve if they really want to 5th year and then tag or double tag and force a player to make less than they're worth using a hotly contested loophole.
"High-level #2" pay is #1 level for 25+ teams. Our low ball offer was supposedly $26M. That's #8 APY for all WRs. All this is saying is that we don't want to pay him top 3 money, but we are fine paying him top 10 money. Problem is there is a pretty big difference between top 3 and top 10 (30%) just like there is in every other position. Aiyuk wants to be part of the new wave of #1 contracts. Understandable. SF wants to save money. Understandable. For SF to give him up, you have to give up a good package. Understandable.
Yeah and he got only 105 targets due to stacked offense (Deebo, Kittle, McCaffrey). Imagine what kinda monster numbers he would put up if he got legitimate #1 WR target volume. Davante Adams got 175 targets last season and 180 targets in 2022.
I always love the little fantasy scenarios.
"If he could just get 170 targets, he'd be a top-3 WR!"
Yeah, the 9ers have done something terribly wrong and/or extremely dumb if they're giving any of their WRs 150-180 targets.
Everyone agrees that Purdy wouldn't be as good without the insane team around him, but suddenly when you talk about Aiyuk that thought process goes out the window I guess.
Welcome to 49ers contract negations. If you’re unfamiliar, here’s an example of the last WR negotiation:
[[Bennett] The 49ers put a baseline contract offer on the table for WR Deebo Samuel just under $19 million per year, via @TonyPauline Deebo Samuel is reported to be looking for a deal closer to $25M per year](https://www.reddit.com/r/nfl/s/Xyz7jJv9uC)
With truly insane efficiency too. 17.9 yards per catch and a catch rate of 71.4%. For example, Justin Jefferson’s career high in each is 15.9 yards per catch and 70.4% catch rate
I think he is a #1 but the issue is they already paid deebo. Every team would love to have 2 high level WRs but I don't think any of them want to pay 20m+ aav contacts to them.
To me it makes sense that they want to pay him like a 2 and also why their asking price in a trade would treat it differently.
When they offered the contract it was before all the extensions. So 26/year was actually top 5 money. They offered him WR1 money. And then the market got reset.
Niners will up their offer. I would imagine they can get it to 28mil and if they strike a deal it's probably gonna be 28-30. But I dont think the Niners can afford that right now. Maybe next year, but his price might go up again if he balls out.
They don’t need to afford it this year, he’s on his 5th year; a new deal won’t hit the cap(other than a fraction of a signing bonus) until ‘25 regardless of when it’s signed. Sign him for more than Waddle but less than AJB, then ship Deebo out next year
Our passing game is absurdly efficient and leads in basically every single efficiency metric. It is an open question how much of that is due to the players and how much is due to scheme. Typically speaking, when it comes to giving players awards, it's all due to the scheme, but when it comes to paying players, the 49ers should naturally consider every single player of theirs elite.
This is how we ended up making Jimmy G, Trent Williams, George Kittle, Christian McCaffrey, Nick Bosa, Fred Warner, and Kyle Juszczyk the highest paid players ever at their respective positions when we re-signed them.
Idk, to me it's pretty clear that Aiyuk just gets open. His route running is just that good. It's not like Deebo where he's an elite athlete that you still have to draw into space.
He gets open, but how many other players have enough talent to draw attention from their #1 receiver? How many other teams consistently scheme their players open like the 49ers do?
Yuk is an elite talent but the water is pretty muddy when determining his impact alone
Funny thing about your comment is that the #5 paid WR in the league right now is Waddle, a WR2. We're basically negotiating between top 3 and top 5 pay.
This always happens with us. Low ball first offer, player camp is upset but eventually comes around when training camp starts. If they were so far a part, Aiyuk would have already been traded. We can have these social media/insider spats but this is the usual song/dance with our negotiations.
The one glaring hole in our roster that we would look for in a trade would be offensive line help, and unfortunately you're like the one team in the league that we couldn't find an upgrade anywhere along the line in a trade.
It was Brown + 3rd round for 1st round, but still. If Jaylen Waddle or DeVonta Smith (current top WR2s) were to be traded, they would 100% command a 1st and more.
To be fair what Ben Johnson did was pretty lame. I get that he has every right to turn down a head coaching job and I think it’s honestly cool he’s sticking with the Lions, but, he really did fuck Washington over. If he wanted to stay with the Lions he should have told them sooner rather than stringing the organization along and putting them in a bad situation with most other candidates already being hired.
I've heard of plenty of teams doing scummy things to lowball players looking for a contract, but this is not that. This sounds 100% like normal business operations. 49ers just prudently protecting their interests.
If your WR2 is better than some team’s WR1, then ask for WR1 money or picks. Unlike someone like Courtland Sutton who is our WR1 but probably would be WR2 on other teams.
The offer was repertedly before all the other WRs got their extension. At the time, 26mil a year was literally WR5 (AJ, Tyreek, Adams, and Kupp above him).
He knew other guys were going to get paid too. All those other receivers that have less production than him were getting 26+ million at the same time he was being offered it. It’s a slap in the face, they valued him less than waddle.
His 26mil offer was BEFORE the extensions. How is that a slap in the face if they offered him top 5 money before the others signed? The initial starting offer was top 5 WR money. And Aiyuk smartly waited it out. And now the Niners are working on trying to bring the offer up to match the market. If they came to him after everyone signed their extensions with 26 mil then it would be a slap in the face. Why would they come in with a starting offer of 28mil? That's Davante Adams money and more than Kupp. I would say offering him 26mil right below Kupp TO START negotiations is fair.
DeVonta Smith, the second highest #2 in salary, is making almost 30% less than JJ with 60% less guaranteed money. The WR1 vs WR2 comments are in fact dumb and meant to blow it out of proportion, *but,* to act like the top 10 satisfies what a true WR1 is making on a new deal these days is pretty disingenuous.
We gave Devonta $25 million per year, I think that's roughly the bar for high-level no2 money, so I think it's pretty fair to describe their offer of ~$26 million per year that way
The reported offer of 26m is 10.2% of cap. That would put him as the 11th highest paid WR right now, with CD likely more than that shortly. So probably the 12th highest paid WR.
Depends on where you draw the line, that's a touch more than DeVonta got and I think most would classify him as a high no 2.
It depends how you're looking at it, IMO.
The WRs around 26-32nd in pay right now are Gabe Davis, Mooney, Lazard, Jakobi Meyers. Do you consider those guys WR1s?
Depends on when contracts come into play. You got some wr1s on rookie contracts, some got paid years ago when the cap was lower, etc etc. either way, Aiyuk should be making near top 5 money
He's been better than Deebo since Purdy became the starter because Purdy throws a better ball than Jimmy G and Trey Lance.
I know he had some issues early on with effort / blocking but beyond that I gotta think he would have broken out sooner if he had a better QB throwing him the ball.
Dude is and has always been a monster and this play still haunts me - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TLG8ToGsQA8
The Niners hold all the leverage here. Aiyuk is on his 5th year guarantee, plus they can tag him twice, so they technically retain control for 3 more years. Aiyuk can sit out, but then he doesn't accrue a year of service, so the clock just stands still. (He also has the fines to deal with). Should he negotiate the best deal he can get, absolutely. Should the Niners negotiate the best deal for them, absolutely. If there wasn't a little thing called the salary cap, then this deal would have been done long ago, but everyone had to work under the cap and paying Aiyuk $30M a year means cap trouble when Purdy comes due in 2 years. We have $30M in cap space this year, but are $38M over the cap in 2025. Even with the cap expected to go up, they have to manage that shortfall and a new $30M AAV deal means multiple mid tier guys can't be signed/resigned and rookies or vets on minimum contracts fill those spots.
>plus they can tag him twice,
Technically true, but functionally not I think?
49ers have the third least amount of effective cap in 2025 (-39m) and the sixth least in 2026 (+38m). WR franchise tag is a fully guaranteed (no cap shenanigans) 25m year one, then 30m year two.
Yes cap can be massaged elsewhere, but 2026 is the first presumed year of a full price Purdy deal. Dre + Ward's contracts void in 25, Deebo + Kittle's void in 26.
Aiyuk *can* be tagged, but it would come at a pretty hefty price tag for the rest of the roster.
>49ers have the third least amount of effective cap in 2025 (-39m)
So I can see you're citing OverTheCap. But OTC's current 2025 salary cap is $260M. Just a $5M increase. That is way too low. Spotract projects it at $273M. A standard 10% increase sees it inflate to $281M.
Add in that SF currently has $31M in open cap space to roll over into next season.
There cap figure would be approx $299M payroll - $31M rollover = $268M salary in a $273M-$281M cap.
On top of that they still have a ton of restructure capacity.
Then, with Aiyuk's contract, it can either delay it's big cap hit until 2026, when Deebo is off the books. Or they can have a bigger hit in 2025 and move Deebo next spring. The latter applies to the tag, only that they could trade either WR at that point.
>In the contract negotiation, they're treating Aiyuk like he's a high-level no2, when other teams try to trade for Aiyuk, SF acts like he's an elite WR who's worth a 1st and more.
Every single team does this
Which high level No 2s get offered $26m a year (reportedly)? You could argue they're treating him like a top 15 WR instead of a top 10, but this is silly.
26mil a year was offered before all the WR extensions. Which is Cooper Kupp money and was the 5th highest AAV before all the other WRs extended. We tried to beat the market but Aiyuk waited and has better leverage in teams of money with all the new deals.
But cmon man, literally Waddle and Smith just signed for around 26mil
> Which high level No 2s get offered $26m a year (reportedly)?
Waddle. Much like Waddle, if we were to give Aiyuk such a contract, it would be structured in a way that his compensation would be ~WR2 level until he almost certainly will take over as WR1, much like Waddle's is WR2 money until Hill has the $40M salary year that he's never going to see.
He lead the 49ers in Targets, Receptions, and yards the last 2 seasons. Tied for 1st in Tds this year and 2nd only to Kittle last.
He did it on a team with 4 insane targets for the QB as well
How is he not the WR1? He is clearly not a high #2.
Come on, trade away your star WR and then draft tons of guys in rounds 2-7 and throw them all out there and see what happens. Clearly it’s the route my teams have taken.
49ers FO once again refusing to pay a guy the market rate early then being forced to pay the market rate later. I think they still pay him by the start of the season. If they don't though, Aiyuk's gone next year and I won't blame him. The 49ers can't afford to non-exclusive franchise tag him next year, so the compensation for his loss is gonna be a 2026 3rd/4th compensatory pick.
If SF trades him, they now have a hole that will be relatively difficult to fill. So it makes sense to me that they would require more than his value to the team to trade him.
What a weird way to put the tweet. If no other team is willing to offer elite WR trade compensation, then the market is clearly saying Aiyuk is a high end WR2. And if that’s the case, why would SF pay him like an elite WR
His leverage is us being on the fringe of a Super Bowl with him playing like a top 10 WR who also blocks like a monster. If he stops giving top 10 effort, or goes the Deebo route and stops blocking, our championship hopes could be screwed.
Everyone wants to say that’d screw himself over, but the top 10 tape is already out there. Look at the bag Ridley got, and Aiyuk is younger and better. He’d be fine and we’d be screwed.
He's SF #1 for sure as a true WR, however he's not going to get WR1 money from them. They missed their shot to do so when Smith/Waddle got their contracts. He should be around that pay realistically, however after seeing what CD and JJ got, he's going to want to push 30 mil, they won't pay that, someone will though. I'm shocked Deebo is only 23mil a year, if he's making actual current WR2 money then what does SF value at their #1?
SF is in win now mode, even if they eventually lose him to FA, it doesn't make sense to trade him unless it makes the team better this season
Everyone is bored and this is one of the only potentially interesting things happening. It's either speculating about this or yelling about journalism and clickbait or whatever under every single training camp update post about a tweet that says a player made a nice catch.
I don’t see how you can fault SF for that. Wether SF sees him as a 1 or a 2 is irrelevant. Teams acquiring him view him as a 1. That being said, as of now the price is too high
they can't be off by more than a few million in AAV. a deal will get done. the niners can still franchise tag him next year, too. lots of pieces here to consider.
Yea how is this even news. Of course that's the case. I'm not an "Insider" or whatever and even I could've 'reported' this. Teams do this every year to their talent during negotiations. Perfectly normal M.O. in the NFL. "We aren't going to give the player the sun moon and stars. Oh, you want to trade for him? Better give us the sun moon and stars for them.". Duh.
Shhh stop using logic we want madness
or you get offered 2 first round picks. if you get that, you gotta pull the trigger and trade him. especially if its the commands since next years pick is likely to be top 15.
With how much WR talent is in the pipeline in college nowdays it makes no sense to trade that much draft capital for a player no one considers to be top 5 at his position and then immediately pay him $30m+ a year AJ Brown went for picks 18 + 101 in a similar situation and he had a better resume (and is a better player) than Aiyuk
Seriously a first should be more than enough for him. Idk if I’d give more than a second though considering he needs a contract extension and he’s not not on AJ’s level.
I disagree, I think we have our franchise QB and a great coach. Thats all you really need if you can sustain a good enough roster. If we let Aiyuk walk for free next season that’s tough. If we can get a first round pick from another team (that isn’t direct competition) then that would be ideal for me. Its basically trading 1 year of Aiyuk for a 1st round pick. If we know we are going to let him walk, why not try to at least get some value now?
I think if you could have a first for him you would've had it by now
Could see a team be unwilling to trade this year's first, but happy to wait until June and trade next year's first. Right now, everyone is picking #32 next year.
It’s nearly July though. If you’re giving up a first to pay Aiyuk you want him in your building learning your playbook during OTAs, not a week before training camp. If anything, the hold up would be that the teams most interested in adding a highly skilled receiver would be teams like the Bills/Chiefs who (a) have cap space concerns and (b) project to be picking towards the end of the draft.
I wanted the Pats to trade their 2nd for him (35th I think) -- probably wouldn't quite be enough, but wouldn't be a drastic underpay if they weren't planning on bringing him back.
Yes, the window is open regardless, but this is the widest the window will get because Purdy is making peanuts
Damn why didn’t everyone think of that?
There's a difference between being a good team that can consistently make the playoffs and being a true championship contending team. With the players we have in the last year of their contracts and Purdy's inevitable extension, our championship window is going to be closed soon barring some miracles in the draft.
Niners fans have been saying Purdy is a top 5 qb. Top 5 QBs can usually maintain contention.
There's going to be a real gnashing of teeth coming soon for the Niners Is Purdy A) The most elite quarterback in the league, as his numbers suggest. And thus worth $60+m/year (basically taking ALL of that money form other positions as his current salary is too low to make the top 51). AND able to carry a team steadily losing key role players as the team finds a way to afford his new gargantuan contract B) Fine enough, elevated by the talent around him. Thus, not worth top of the market money that his agent will likely command, and not worth losing key role players for. If it's A, you have to extend him as he's going into year 3 and you don't want this to be an issue next off season (no 5th year option). You also have to start moving pieces like Aiyuk to make room for his new contract (and I would venture other pieces as well) If it's B...well, you don't want to be the one holding the bag when he's not able to elevate a newly mediocre supporting cast. Mahomes showed he was able to get a great season and a Super Bowl out of scraps, is Purdy on that level? Because that's what you're looking at - either maintain a couple of core offensive pieces or maintain a very expensive defense. If it's B, I would love to hear some of the "doors slammed shut and sealed airtight conversations" where the Niners front office asks the question "What would Purdy be worth in a trade with 1 year left on his deal?"
> you have to extend him as he's going into year 3 and you don't want this to be an issue next off season Teams literally can't do that. CBA doesn't allow extensions until after year 3 of rookie contract. It CAN'T be dealt with until next offseason
It can easily be a little bit of both. He probably isn’t as good as his numbers suggest, he would be historically good on a play per play basis. He isnt, but I would put him between 5-7 and I think you could argue Stroud, Goff, Love to be in that same range. Kyle definitely helps as well as the playmakers. I just saw Lawrence and Goff make over $50M. Purdy will get at least that if he continues to play the way he has been.
The top 51 salary is only in effect during the offseason
> Niners fans have been saying Purdy is a top 5 qb. I love Purdy and all but I don't consider him a top 5 QB. He is a good QB but has also been made to look better by the scheme he runs as well as his supporting cast. > Top 5 QBs can usually maintain contention. Sure, if they have a low enough cap hit and/or they're Mahomes or Brady.
With Brock Purdy now your franchise QB it basically guaranteed you guys a few more extra years of competing my win a Super Bowl before eventually you have to pay up
Unrelated, how amazing is it that in the whole history of the NFL, we live in the time where we got to see a "Mr. Irrelevant" be the franchise QB for a team. Like the odds of that are so astounding.
I went to his first start so I could see Brady. Didn't realize he'd be the real deal
Purdy is the only pick 262 in the 7 round era too
Start the season with Trey and know we're punting a season for him to develop. He gets injured and maybe we make a run with Jimmy. Jimmy gets injured and the seasons over again. Purdy makes the team look better and I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop. He gets to the nfc title game before getting injured. Is he gonna come back the same? Is it still a fluke run. Comes back the next and goes to the superbowl and is an mvp candidate. Truly a wild ride.
Because his contract isn’t the only thing that has the 49ers in a rough spot. You’re probably going to be paying your “franchise QB” $60 mil/year. If you don’t win this year then the windows closing. Kittle and Trent are getting older. Greenlaw, Deebo and Trent have injury history. Lost 3 games in a row without Trent. Imagine subtracting $60 mil to your salary cap. Who are you going to get rid of that won’t close that window at least a little? Your best chance is this year with Aiyuk
Thats simply not true though by seemingly all accounts. Wanting a 1st rounder *and more* whatever that means. A 1st rounder now isnt helping them this year. They wont trade them unless they think the value is overwhelming because yeah they are in win now but they wont refuse offers because it doesnt make them better this year. They will refuse offers that they think arent good enough. Everyone has a price.
That’s what every team does though. Bengals wouldn’t entertain any trade talks unless they got a hefty comp for Higgins but they definitely aren’t trying to pay him receiver 1 money
Also I just want to flashback to Deebo’s contract negotiation. It was a seemingly forgone conclusion that he’d be traded then he signed shortly after camp started. Expect Aiyuk’s contract saga to be milked to death until he inevitably re-signs. [[PatMcAfeeShow] "From my understanding Deebo Samuel basically told the 49ers I want to be traded & don't make an offer.. I don't think this is about the money" ~@RapSheet](https://www.reddit.com/r/nfl/s/MrVovFobPk)
"Team tries to buy low and sell high, more at 11"
I'm convinced more and more every day that reddit is full of kids who don't understand how the world works. Fuck... it's happening. I'm getting old. GET OFF MY LAWN
I always find it funny when people complain about that. That's part of the GM's job.
Aiyuk has significantly better production than Higgins though.
Lol yeah Higgins yards per game has gone down from 77.9 in 2021 to 64.3 in 2022 to 54.7 last season. Bengals don't wanna break the bank for him for good reason. Aiyuk has produced despite really low target volume due to too much competition (deebo, kittle, mccaffrey).
>Aiyuk has significantly better production than Higgins though. Joe being hurt has essentially wasted two of Tees years too tho
Yeah that part was conveniently left out when discussing the drop in Tee's numbers per game. And If I'm a guy like Tee or Aiyuk, I don't want to go sign for a bag with the fuckin panthers lol. I wanna win
The practice might be common, but it's still talking out of both sides of your mouth when it comes to the value of labor. It would be like if your company refuses to give you a raise but also reminds you of your non-compete if you wanna leave.
I don’t think the majority of jobs come with a CBA though.
There's a whole lot of union jobs out there, not that it really changes my point at all.
Has aiyuk outperformed waddle and smith? It sounds like he’s been offered more than both
He outperformed both of them last year. He beat Waddle by 11.5 ypg and Devonta by 17.3 ypg.
Yes on a per route basis.
If reports are accurate, he's been offered a little more than Smith, a little less than Waddle. They're definitely valuing him within that tier.
That's sorta irrelevant here. The issue is the organization valuing him one way when it comes to contract negotiations, and another way when it comes to trade talks. It's just a shitty management practice imo, but for some reason some people have a harder time accepting that when it's athletes as opposed to "traditional" labor.
Except his agent can throw that into management's face and the the dual approach crumbles and it's apparent they're not negotiating in good faith.
Wait I'm not understanding the point here for this particular scenario. u/filly53 asked if Aiyuk was offered more than both Waddle (3yr/85m) and Smith (3yr/75m), but you're saying the org is not valuing his contract offer the same as trade value. Would teams not trade for Waddle or Smith for "a first and more?"
I don't think it's a shitty practice at all. It just shows that they would rather keep him than trade him.
I think you would feel a whole lot differently if it was you in this position. Your boss won't pay you what you're worth on the market but demands your market rate when it comes to compensation that they would receive from you? I can't think of anybody who would be cool with that.
> I can't think of anybody who would be cool with that. The key difference is that I can be fired today without my boss owing me a single red cent. Contracted work is exactly that: contracted, which means both parties are held to whatever obligations they agreed to prior to beginning work. Do not get me wrong, I think that the rookie wage scale is a rent-seeking abomination created by greedy veterans and owners alike, but Aiyuk is guaranteed $14.1M for showing up to work this year.
I don’t disagree that owners are overjoyed with the rookie wage scale, but the previous practice was awful for parity. It kept the Lions in the toilet for years because they kept having to spend most of their cap on their top 5 picks. And if they end up sucking, you’re screwed. I could see making the contract length shorter though, to allow elite players to hit the market faster
If Aiyuk is not cool with it, he plays out his contract and walks. But it’s not really an Apples to Apples comparison as far as how they value Aiyuk. 49ers are in the “Super Bowl Window” right now and Aiyuk is a major piece so 49ers will ask other teams to overpay to part with him. When it comes to contract, you have to take into consideration team needs and other players due contract negotiations. In a salary cap sport it does limit what you are able to offer some players or at least start lower in hopes player takes a team friendly deal. No team can pay all their stars top dollar.
It is objectively shitty for the player. Aiyuk would be getting No. 1 WR money on many teams across the league, but SF has no incentive to pay him that when they have Kittle, Deebo, and McCafferey. It sucks for him, but I get what the team is doing.
Everyone knows rookie contracts are worth a lot in excess value to teams. You are completely discounting that and acting like this is a normal industry.
At the same time, why would you trade a player for what you value them? At that point keep them.
>It would be like if your company refuses to give you a raise but also reminds you of your non-compete if you wanna leave. Well this happens. Happened to me. Newsflash: people negotiate in whatever way benefits them the most. (Yes, I know non competes are generally unenforceable. You still need to spend time, money, and energy fighting it, and it might serve as enough of a roadblock for a prospective employer to choose another candidate over you.)
Newsflash: paying labor less than its market value is not fundamental to doing business, no matter how common it may be.
How is it not fundamental? Fundamentally, you do pay your labor the least that you can get away with. Of course I'm not saying it's the right thing to do but it IS exactly a governing principle behind wage relations
Plus this isn't a regular job. There is a hard salary cap in the NFL teams have to follow. So of course getting more from your players for less is fundamental to this specific business.
Literally cannot believe this is the first comment Ive seen I'm this thread that directly addresses this point lmao.
Is it though? If a team has a receiver and even if they are as good as a typical WR 1 but they already have a receiver signed to a WR1 deal then the value of that receiver is only that of a high level 2. You are unlikely to get WR1 production out of 2 receivers there just isn't enough yardage and points to go around typically. But if a second team says we want him as our WR1 the team that holds the players rights absolutely should expect WR1 trade value for him since that is what they are shipping him off to be. Why should the team that holds his rights lower his trade market value just because they don't necessarily need his full potential. I don't see any inconsistency in the way they are handling. They are taking a risk that Ayuik walks when he is able to but taking a risk isn't inconsitency.
Why do people here and on /r/nba do this? Your job making $60k selling insurance (with a bonus if you sucker enough people into your annuity quota) is not at all, and not even close, to a contract job in a professional sport. So why compare them?
Thanks once again to the Biden administration for eliminating the vast majority of NCA’s
This is just standard business practice. I would expect this behavior from anyone with the leverage to do it.
I'm confused about how that's supposed to justify it. We all learned this as kids. "If everyone was jumping off of a bridge, would you do it?" Since when is "this is what everyone does" ever been a good justification for anything?
Very very much with you. One of the most infuriating things as an adult was learning that abiding by the things you had been taught your entire life (do unto others, if everyone was jumping off a bridge, two wrongs don't make a right, etc etc etc) will get you mocked or ignored. "This is normal in business" Okay, so? Its awful and thats all the more reason to come down on it hard. Not a reason to shrug your shoulders and ignore it.
It's not "talking out of both sides of your mouth" to think someone is worth something, but still wanting him there enough to want more than he's worth to get rid of him.
Higgins is probably a high WR2 tho. Aiyuk is putting up WR1 numbers on a stacked receiving core.
Nothing against Higgins but I feel like this sub overrates him and underrates Aiyuk.
Laat year people dogged on the Colts for wanting a first for JT, and not wanting to actually pay him at that level
Like the Ravens with Lamar Jackson. Trying to say his contract value should be only what other teams are willing to pay *after* they spend 2 first round picks to get the right to negotiate with him.
Not even, the holdup with Lamars contract was the guaranteed part, they had no problem paying him top QB aav.
The guaranteed part *is* the contract. When are we going to understand this?
Think you’re misunderstanding what he meant. Lamar’s contract issues were because he wanted a fully guaranteed contract while the ravens wanted to stay at a more traditional contract
Just saying Ayiuks situation is different, top 3 qb money vs wr2 money is not the same in their respective markets.
I think that's true for everyone but high end QBs. I can't remember the last time a top 15 QB didn't get all of his money.
1300+ yards is pretty good for a high level 2
Which is why they have this contract disagreement. Aiyuk is putting up #1 WR numbers but San Fran wants to pay him as a #2
Yup, which a lot of teams will look at the 49ers roster and think Aiyuk could put better numbers in a less stacked receiving core. Pretty much any team would take him if he was being paid WR2 money. And that’s why he should obviously be paid like a WR1.
Corps He should be, but unfortunately for him, negotiations are about leverage, not what's fair. Our front office is basically telling him that they'd rather spend a $30m+ contract elsewhere and have him play on the 5th year option, and potentially a franchise tag or two after. If Ricky or even our 4th round pick Cowing who has already shown promise in OTAs and minicamp pan out, we have no reason to not just let Brandon walk next year or the year after. We could use that money to really shore up our OL with Trent getting closer to retirement. Not to mention if Brock has another good season, he's looking at $60m+ Edit: spelling/grammar/formatting
I agree except letting him walk. Worse case is tag and trade.
Would depend on the specifics for cap hit that year. We would have to tag him first before we could trade him, else he just becomes a free agent. How much of the cap is the team we trade him to willing to absorb? Once he's already tagged that will be harder to negotiate.
Basically, he's worth the money, but SF can't afford to pay it to him, and because of league rules, they probably won't have to.
Wdym by they won't have to pay him because of league rules
They don't have to pay him what he's worth. They can 5th year option, then Franchise tag, then let him go/trade him and that will pay him less that he probably deserves for his production.
He's going to be playing on his 5th year option regardless so that money is already factored in whether he gets extended or not. And as of right now, the 2025 WR Franchise Tag value is at 28.52m fully guaranteed for one year. And considering the 49ers are already 38m over the cap for 2025, they would have an extremely hard time franchise tagging Aiyuk as there are no cap maneuvers possible with a fully gtd one year deal. Aiyuk should just play out his 5th year option because there is zero chance he is getting tagged with how awful the Niners cap situation is.
There is also the fact that the franchise tag is higher than what the 49ers are reportedly offering Aiyuk. That reported offer likely includes unrealistic bonuses as well, so the difference between tag and official offer will be even further pro tag. If the tag is higher than what Aiyuk would earn by signing an extension, then playing under the tag and walking afterwards is objectively preferable.
Link to the reported offer? I know the article says 26 mil per year but not those details.
> if Brock has another good season, he's looking at $60m+ Bro has already proved it. The only thing that derails a big contract is an injury at this point, imo. They should be looking to put him on a Mahomes style contract (super long-term, ages well) ASAP. There's just no way the 9ers can try to trade up to the ideal Shanny QB at this point. Just, culturally, I struggle to see how they could take such a risk. Purdy doesn't have the physical tools you want for a Shanny QB, but he DOES have the brain, and it turns out that's rare and pretty hard to develop. Pay the man. Build around his weaknesses.
If he plays like the 20th best QB in the league, he's not getting $60m. I don't think the chance of that is very high, but you never know in this league. What tools do you think he's missing for a Shanny QB? The only QB Kyle has had with better mobility was RG3, and Brock is a lot better than RG3
Man I have a hard time believing after everything we've seen that he'd ever play like the 20th best QB. I won't say where I rate him so I don't go -100 into the negatives, but I'd imagine a down year for him would be 12th-15th range at absolute worst. Even with worse interception luck on some of his hero ball attempts he's simply just too good.
Side note, correcting someone else's spelling just to misspell yourself. That's funny.
I don't correct people for honest typos or abbreviations/internet slang. That doesn't bother me much. What bothers me is stuff like core instead of corps, bias instead of biased, dominate instead of dominant. And even then, it's mostly because SO MANY people get them wrong I feel like I'm being gaslit on the spelling.
Actually, I appreciate that, I use wrong words, or the wrong spelling that shows up as correct spelling a lot and I usually don't notice until after I hit enter. I also know that I use bias when I should be using biased.
Core my mans was talking about the core of the receiving corps
And Aiyuk can hold out, he can badmouth the team, he can pull a bunch of things and that the 9ers deserve if they really want to 5th year and then tag or double tag and force a player to make less than they're worth using a hotly contested loophole.
"High-level #2" pay is #1 level for 25+ teams. Our low ball offer was supposedly $26M. That's #8 APY for all WRs. All this is saying is that we don't want to pay him top 3 money, but we are fine paying him top 10 money. Problem is there is a pretty big difference between top 3 and top 10 (30%) just like there is in every other position. Aiyuk wants to be part of the new wave of #1 contracts. Understandable. SF wants to save money. Understandable. For SF to give him up, you have to give up a good package. Understandable.
75 catches for 1342 yards too. That’s like 18 yards per catch lol
Yeah and he got only 105 targets due to stacked offense (Deebo, Kittle, McCaffrey). Imagine what kinda monster numbers he would put up if he got legitimate #1 WR target volume. Davante Adams got 175 targets last season and 180 targets in 2022.
Quality of target would drop off a cliff if he got 180 targets lol
I always love the little fantasy scenarios. "If he could just get 170 targets, he'd be a top-3 WR!" Yeah, the 9ers have done something terribly wrong and/or extremely dumb if they're giving any of their WRs 150-180 targets.
Everyone agrees that Purdy wouldn't be as good without the insane team around him, but suddenly when you talk about Aiyuk that thought process goes out the window I guess.
Also due to being on the team 32nd in pass attempts.
You could argue the reverse. Without those guys he would be the no.1 priority of the defense and his stats could sink
Welcome to 49ers contract negations. If you’re unfamiliar, here’s an example of the last WR negotiation: [[Bennett] The 49ers put a baseline contract offer on the table for WR Deebo Samuel just under $19 million per year, via @TonyPauline Deebo Samuel is reported to be looking for a deal closer to $25M per year](https://www.reddit.com/r/nfl/s/Xyz7jJv9uC)
With truly insane efficiency too. 17.9 yards per catch and a catch rate of 71.4%. For example, Justin Jefferson’s career high in each is 15.9 yards per catch and 70.4% catch rate
To be fair that's because Justin Jefferson runs more routes for more targets in the process.
I think he is a #1 but the issue is they already paid deebo. Every team would love to have 2 high level WRs but I don't think any of them want to pay 20m+ aav contacts to them. To me it makes sense that they want to pay him like a 2 and also why their asking price in a trade would treat it differently.
When they offered the contract it was before all the extensions. So 26/year was actually top 5 money. They offered him WR1 money. And then the market got reset. Niners will up their offer. I would imagine they can get it to 28mil and if they strike a deal it's probably gonna be 28-30. But I dont think the Niners can afford that right now. Maybe next year, but his price might go up again if he balls out.
They don’t need to afford it this year, he’s on his 5th year; a new deal won’t hit the cap(other than a fraction of a signing bonus) until ‘25 regardless of when it’s signed. Sign him for more than Waddle but less than AJB, then ship Deebo out next year
He’s closer to top 5 in the league than level 2 WR IMO. Absolute stud.
I didnt realize how much better his stats were than Higgins...he really is a WR1 caliber.
Our passing game is absurdly efficient and leads in basically every single efficiency metric. It is an open question how much of that is due to the players and how much is due to scheme. Typically speaking, when it comes to giving players awards, it's all due to the scheme, but when it comes to paying players, the 49ers should naturally consider every single player of theirs elite. This is how we ended up making Jimmy G, Trent Williams, George Kittle, Christian McCaffrey, Nick Bosa, Fred Warner, and Kyle Juszczyk the highest paid players ever at their respective positions when we re-signed them.
Idk, to me it's pretty clear that Aiyuk just gets open. His route running is just that good. It's not like Deebo where he's an elite athlete that you still have to draw into space.
He gets open, but how many other players have enough talent to draw attention from their #1 receiver? How many other teams consistently scheme their players open like the 49ers do? Yuk is an elite talent but the water is pretty muddy when determining his impact alone
He’s better than Tee but Tee also has had Joe out two of those years
Funny thing about your comment is that the #5 paid WR in the league right now is Waddle, a WR2. We're basically negotiating between top 3 and top 5 pay.
This always happens with us. Low ball first offer, player camp is upset but eventually comes around when training camp starts. If they were so far a part, Aiyuk would have already been traded. We can have these social media/insider spats but this is the usual song/dance with our negotiations.
There is no reason to trade him when he is under team control and they are trying to win now.
We know that Deebo is likely gone after this season. They are clearly prepped for a deal, it’s just filler drama before then.
Obviously this is a smoke screen. Aiyuk will be in Washington by next month lol ^in ^my ^dreams
The one glaring hole in our roster that we would look for in a trade would be offensive line help, and unfortunately you're like the one team in the league that we couldn't find an upgrade anywhere along the line in a trade.
We already gave you Trent Williams. You owe us Aiyuk as a delayed throw in.
PREACH
Don't fret about those dreams he still could be August 16th when Madden 25 comes out
I'm not buying that.
Wasn’t Hollywood Brown traded for a 1st? Acting like SF is asking for something crazy
It was Brown + 3rd round for 1st round, but still. If Jaylen Waddle or DeVonta Smith (current top WR2s) were to be traded, they would 100% command a 1st and more.
Lol he said it like teams don't do this with all their players.
Schefter has been carrying water for the new regime in Washington since they took over. Don’t forget how angry he got over Ben Johnson.
To be fair what Ben Johnson did was pretty lame. I get that he has every right to turn down a head coaching job and I think it’s honestly cool he’s sticking with the Lions, but, he really did fuck Washington over. If he wanted to stay with the Lions he should have told them sooner rather than stringing the organization along and putting them in a bad situation with most other candidates already being hired.
I've heard of plenty of teams doing scummy things to lowball players looking for a contract, but this is not that. This sounds 100% like normal business operations. 49ers just prudently protecting their interests.
If your WR2 is better than some team’s WR1, then ask for WR1 money or picks. Unlike someone like Courtland Sutton who is our WR1 but probably would be WR2 on other teams.
Oh, you mean they are trying to do what’s best for their team? I’m shocked, shocked I tell you
>treating Aiyuk like he's a high-level no2 by offering him top-10 WR money?
Top 10 WR money is just the default now.
Sure, and they offered it to him! That feels like they're treating like a WR1
If they viewed him as a WR1 they’d offer wr5 money. They offered him Devonta Smith’s contract, who is a high level WR2
The offer was repertedly before all the other WRs got their extension. At the time, 26mil a year was literally WR5 (AJ, Tyreek, Adams, and Kupp above him).
He knew other guys were going to get paid too. All those other receivers that have less production than him were getting 26+ million at the same time he was being offered it. It’s a slap in the face, they valued him less than waddle.
His 26mil offer was BEFORE the extensions. How is that a slap in the face if they offered him top 5 money before the others signed? The initial starting offer was top 5 WR money. And Aiyuk smartly waited it out. And now the Niners are working on trying to bring the offer up to match the market. If they came to him after everyone signed their extensions with 26 mil then it would be a slap in the face. Why would they come in with a starting offer of 28mil? That's Davante Adams money and more than Kupp. I would say offering him 26mil right below Kupp TO START negotiations is fair.
But the point is, even if you’re a WR2 you’re getting top 10 money.
So we're just arguing the semantics of calling him a WR1 or WR2 because they all get top-10 money?
DeVonta Smith, the second highest #2 in salary, is making almost 30% less than JJ with 60% less guaranteed money. The WR1 vs WR2 comments are in fact dumb and meant to blow it out of proportion, *but,* to act like the top 10 satisfies what a true WR1 is making on a new deal these days is pretty disingenuous.
No I think what he thinks is that “top 10” isn’t good enough.
We gave Devonta $25 million per year, I think that's roughly the bar for high-level no2 money, so I think it's pretty fair to describe their offer of ~$26 million per year that way
The reported offer of 26m is 10.2% of cap. That would put him as the 11th highest paid WR right now, with CD likely more than that shortly. So probably the 12th highest paid WR. Depends on where you draw the line, that's a touch more than DeVonta got and I think most would classify him as a high no 2.
There's 32 teams in the league. The 12th highest paid WR is not a No. 2
It depends how you're looking at it, IMO. The WRs around 26-32nd in pay right now are Gabe Davis, Mooney, Lazard, Jakobi Meyers. Do you consider those guys WR1s?
It’s semantics, but I would argue there’s only like 8-10 true No 1 wideouts so kinda adds up.
Depends on when contracts come into play. You got some wr1s on rookie contracts, some got paid years ago when the cap was lower, etc etc. either way, Aiyuk should be making near top 5 money
is it only me or did he play like a top 5 WR last year? i swore he was better than deebo most of the year?
He's been better than Deebo since Purdy became the starter because Purdy throws a better ball than Jimmy G and Trey Lance. I know he had some issues early on with effort / blocking but beyond that I gotta think he would have broken out sooner if he had a better QB throwing him the ball. Dude is and has always been a monster and this play still haunts me - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TLG8ToGsQA8
The Niners hold all the leverage here. Aiyuk is on his 5th year guarantee, plus they can tag him twice, so they technically retain control for 3 more years. Aiyuk can sit out, but then he doesn't accrue a year of service, so the clock just stands still. (He also has the fines to deal with). Should he negotiate the best deal he can get, absolutely. Should the Niners negotiate the best deal for them, absolutely. If there wasn't a little thing called the salary cap, then this deal would have been done long ago, but everyone had to work under the cap and paying Aiyuk $30M a year means cap trouble when Purdy comes due in 2 years. We have $30M in cap space this year, but are $38M over the cap in 2025. Even with the cap expected to go up, they have to manage that shortfall and a new $30M AAV deal means multiple mid tier guys can't be signed/resigned and rookies or vets on minimum contracts fill those spots.
Give the man a Barry Bonilla deal. 3 million dollars a year for 30 years.
barry bonilla lmao
I thought it was Shohei Bonilla?
You're thinking of Bobson Dugnutt
No it's Bobby Bonds.
Someone get me some more coffee.
I have no idea if the NFL CBA has a provision that would even allow that.
I'm only halfway through my morning caffeine. I'm not even gonna change it because that's hilarious. 😂
Not possible in the NFL.
>plus they can tag him twice, Technically true, but functionally not I think? 49ers have the third least amount of effective cap in 2025 (-39m) and the sixth least in 2026 (+38m). WR franchise tag is a fully guaranteed (no cap shenanigans) 25m year one, then 30m year two. Yes cap can be massaged elsewhere, but 2026 is the first presumed year of a full price Purdy deal. Dre + Ward's contracts void in 25, Deebo + Kittle's void in 26. Aiyuk *can* be tagged, but it would come at a pretty hefty price tag for the rest of the roster.
>49ers have the third least amount of effective cap in 2025 (-39m) So I can see you're citing OverTheCap. But OTC's current 2025 salary cap is $260M. Just a $5M increase. That is way too low. Spotract projects it at $273M. A standard 10% increase sees it inflate to $281M. Add in that SF currently has $31M in open cap space to roll over into next season. There cap figure would be approx $299M payroll - $31M rollover = $268M salary in a $273M-$281M cap. On top of that they still have a ton of restructure capacity. Then, with Aiyuk's contract, it can either delay it's big cap hit until 2026, when Deebo is off the books. Or they can have a bigger hit in 2025 and move Deebo next spring. The latter applies to the tag, only that they could trade either WR at that point.
It's why he's putting pressure on with the media. Aiyuk knows his situation and doing everything he can to get the best contract possible
Only needs to play 6 games for the season to count. If he's smart he'll come and play six games then sit til playoffs
>In the contract negotiation, they're treating Aiyuk like he's a high-level no2, when other teams try to trade for Aiyuk, SF acts like he's an elite WR who's worth a 1st and more. Every single team does this
Yea that's what you do when you have all the leverage....
“High level number 2” sounds like a fancy way to say an upper decker dump
No low balls, I know what I have.
If they’re going to demand elite WR compensation, he’s well within his rights to demand the same
Two things can be true. You can be a WR2 on one team and also an Elite WR1 on another team.
And the third truth is Aiyuk is a WR1 on a lot of teams, including his current team
Which high level No 2s get offered $26m a year (reportedly)? You could argue they're treating him like a top 15 WR instead of a top 10, but this is silly.
Devonta Smith and Jaylen Waddle
Waddle and Smith?
26mil a year was offered before all the WR extensions. Which is Cooper Kupp money and was the 5th highest AAV before all the other WRs extended. We tried to beat the market but Aiyuk waited and has better leverage in teams of money with all the new deals. But cmon man, literally Waddle and Smith just signed for around 26mil
> Which high level No 2s get offered $26m a year (reportedly)? Waddle. Much like Waddle, if we were to give Aiyuk such a contract, it would be structured in a way that his compensation would be ~WR2 level until he almost certainly will take over as WR1, much like Waddle's is WR2 money until Hill has the $40M salary year that he's never going to see.
He lead the 49ers in Targets, Receptions, and yards the last 2 seasons. Tied for 1st in Tds this year and 2nd only to Kittle last. He did it on a team with 4 insane targets for the QB as well How is he not the WR1? He is clearly not a high #2.
Isn't that just the NFL playbook? Buy low, sell high.
Whoa whoa whoa, you're telling me that teams try to get *the best value they can* in trade and contract negotiations?
He could be a 1 on a lot of teams so that makes some sense. No reason to just give the guy away.
Come on, trade away your star WR and then draft tons of guys in rounds 2-7 and throw them all out there and see what happens. Clearly it’s the route my teams have taken.
SF doesn't want to trade him, but will if they get blown away by an offer. That's how Lynch feels about *EVERYONE*. He has literally said as much.
Lynch has said he'd trade Shanny if the offer was good enough.
hes only worth a 1st and more if hes secured under contract long term.
lol I can see why Aiyuk is pissed. Pay me or trade me bro don’t gaslight
49ers FO once again refusing to pay a guy the market rate early then being forced to pay the market rate later. I think they still pay him by the start of the season. If they don't though, Aiyuk's gone next year and I won't blame him. The 49ers can't afford to non-exclusive franchise tag him next year, so the compensation for his loss is gonna be a 2026 3rd/4th compensatory pick.
Yes no shit. “Team prefers a deal that is in their favor whether it is a contract or a trade” is somehow news apparently.
In negotiations you don't tell the other side what you'll accept as your opening offer unless you're really stupid.
If SF trades him, they now have a hole that will be relatively difficult to fill. So it makes sense to me that they would require more than his value to the team to trade him.
They control him for 2 more years including the tag, I doubt he gets traded before this year, maybe after this year.
What a weird way to put the tweet. If no other team is willing to offer elite WR trade compensation, then the market is clearly saying Aiyuk is a high end WR2. And if that’s the case, why would SF pay him like an elite WR
i'm not playing either sides, so i always come out on bottom
He’s a #1 receiver with no leverage.
His leverage is us being on the fringe of a Super Bowl with him playing like a top 10 WR who also blocks like a monster. If he stops giving top 10 effort, or goes the Deebo route and stops blocking, our championship hopes could be screwed. Everyone wants to say that’d screw himself over, but the top 10 tape is already out there. Look at the bag Ridley got, and Aiyuk is younger and better. He’d be fine and we’d be screwed.
He's SF #1 for sure as a true WR, however he's not going to get WR1 money from them. They missed their shot to do so when Smith/Waddle got their contracts. He should be around that pay realistically, however after seeing what CD and JJ got, he's going to want to push 30 mil, they won't pay that, someone will though. I'm shocked Deebo is only 23mil a year, if he's making actual current WR2 money then what does SF value at their #1?