The Cleveland Browns are one of several teams rumored to be pursuing a Brandon Aiyuk trade with the San Francisco 49ers. The rumored deal between the two sides would see draft picks and veteran wideout Amari Cooper heading back to the Bay Area. As these details leaked out, at least one player involved in the deal seemed to suggest he wouldn't mind a change of scenery at all.
“lol wouldn't mind that at all,” Cooper posted on his Instagram story Friday night, which was captured by ESPN Cleveland.
While there was no context around Cooper's post on his social media, the timing of it — which coincided with reports that he was the centerpiece of the Brandon Aiyuk trade — strongly suggests that the Browns WR would be happy to get out of Cleveland and head to the West Coast.
Cooper is entering his third season with the Browns, and his first two have been quite productive. He's caught over 70 balls for over 1,100 yards each season and has found the end zone 14 times. Last season he made the Pro Bowl, despite catching passes from five different quarterbacks (Deshaun Watson, Joe Flacco, P.J. Walker, Dzorian Thompson-Robinson, and Jeff Driskel).
And while the Browns did squeak into the playoffs on the back of an incredible stretch run by Flacco, there is no doubt that the 49ers have a much better chance of getting to the Super Bowl this season in the NFC than thee Browns do in their loaded conference.
What an Amari Cooper-Brandon Aiyuk trade makes sense
The Browns swapping Amari Cooper and draft picks for Brandon Aiyuk seems to make sense for all involved.
For Cooper, he gets out of a somewhat chaotic Cleveland situation and gets to go play with Brock Purdy, Christian McCaffrey, George Kittle, and Deebo Samuel, which would be by far the best collection of talent he's ever played with. At 30, Cooper has just about every individual accolade you could ask for, so playing for a winner like the 49ers makes sense.
As for Aiyuk, he gets to be the No. 1 guy for the Browns and would likely get that massive contract extension he is looking for. Also, since he is four years younger than Cooper, he can better afford to weather the Browns' uncertainty over the next few seasons.
Speaking of which, the Browns have to go all in in the last three seasons of Deshaun Watson's fully guaranteed $230 contract. To get younger and more explosive by swapping Cooper for Aiyuk makes sense.
Finally, the 49ers get a Pro Bowl-caliber WR back in this deal which would lessen the blow of losing their own key wideout just weeks before the 2024 campaign.
This is a win-win-win-win trade if it happens.
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