The San Francisco 49ers are ready to make another push for a Super Bowl later this fall. One of their stars on offense, Brandon Aiyuk, is seeking a new contract and has requested a trade. George Kittle recently shared his honest opinion on what losing Aiyuk would mean for the 49ers ahead of a pivotal season.
Kittle recently appeared on The TK Show and talked about the 49ers situation with Brandon Aiyuk.
“Really for Brandon it’s just I want what's best for him,” Kittle said. “And if he requests a trade I hope that he gets to go somewhere that’s best for him and I have no bad blood with Brandon.”
Kittle looked on the bright side by pointing out that Aiyuk's absence is resulting in multiple rookies getting more reps at practice.
“I love having him as a teammate but the one benefit to him not practicing and stuff is a lot of younger guys are getting these reps,” Kittle continued. “They’re getting important reps with the 1’s and Brock that they wouldn’t be getting otherwise. I’m not going to take probably any rookie over Brandon, I’m not going to do that, but the fact that now these young guys get these reps, it’s going to put them in a position to succeed if we can’t figure stuff out with Brandon, and they’ll be more ready for a season as oppose to just going with the 2’s and 3’s the whole time. It just kind of is what it is.”
Without Brandon Aiyuk the 49ers depth chart in the passing game will look different. Either rookie Ricky Pearsall or rookie Jacob Cowing could try to fill Aiyuk’s role to go along with Deebo Samuel, Jauan Jennings, and George Kittle at TE.
NFL insider believes that 49ers WR Brandon Aiyuk is proving “it's not just about the money”
The value of a possible Aiyuk extension seems to be a sticking point in this whole situation.
However, one NFL insider believes that the disagreement goes well beyond the money.
“I'm telling you right now, no matter where he signs, no matter where he gets traded, no matter where the next deal comes from, whether it's the Niners or anybody else, I'll still leave them involved,” NFL insider Mike Garafalo said on the Rich Eisen Show. “It's not going to be that number. So he's already, I can tell right now, he has already turned down more money to go wherever else he is going to be. So frankly it's not just about the money for him and you know I know he wanted to play in Washington, but I don't know exactly what the draw is for him in Pittsburgh. I think he's just got a feeling about that team and a feeling about that situation that he wants to gravitate toward. So it's going to be at a much lower number than 32.”
It is interesting to hear that Aiyuk may accept less money to head to a different situation.
If he does get traded to a different team, his new contract terms will be heavily scrutinized. Especially if he goes to a team that has worse Super Bowl odds than the 49ers and who want to pay him less money.
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