The trade saga between Brandon Aiyuk and the San Francisco 49ers continues. As of Tuesday, the Cleveland Browns have become the favorite to land the coveted wideout, as the Patriots have ended their Aiyuk pursuit, citing a lack of interest from the wide receiver in joining the team.
With their withdrawal, the Patriots have joined the Washington Commanders and Pittsburgh Steelers in dropping their trade attempts. However, 49ers running back Christian McCaffrey also dropped a possible hint about the future of his teammate. This hint came out as the RB made an accidental slip while speaking to the media at training camp.
“For me, I don't deal with it, you know, that's not part of my job. It's not part of my position,” McCaffrey explained to reporters, as shared on this post on X by Max Loeb.
“Obviously, as a former teammate, or you know, teammate of his in general–any teammate that you have, you love and you respect them, you want the best for them. As far as the business side of this game goes, it's always difficult, so I stay out of it completely, you know, that's way above my paygrade.”
“I just try to focus on what I can do every single day, but obviously we wish the best for any of our teammates, whether they're here or not,” McCaffrey added. “Obviously, we hope he's here, you know…It's a tough part of the business.”
49ers trade speculations
Brandon Aiyuk enjoys tremendous leverage over any trade scenario with the 49ers despite not having a no-trade clause in his contract. As the failed Patriots trade showed, Aiyuk can simply refuse to sign a contract extension for the deal to fall through. He can effectively override any decision the 49ers make regarding his future.
However, this doesn't mean the 49ers lose out on not trading him. The elite wideout, after all, remains a potent weapon that boosts their chances of finally getting over the hump at the Super Bowl. Besides Christian McCaffrey's accidental slip, the rest of the team doesn't seem to mind the possibility of Aiyuk staying to play out his rookie contract, worth $14.124 million.
“Brandon's a great player so it's real hard to be better when you lose a great player,” head coach Kyle Shanahan said about the rumors. Meanwhile, DE Nick Bosa also said highly of Aiyuk's value to the team. “I think it would be huge [to lose him],” Bosa said. “I trust John [Lynch] and Kyle but he's a very tough player to replace.”
Their opinions are understandable considering it's extremely unlikely for a contending team to win a championship, in any sport, after giving up a key piece for players or draft picks. Making a hasty move is a great risk, given the 49ers' shrinking title window, so it might not be too big a surprise if Aiyuk ends up staying for one more season.
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