During his long contract dispute with the 49ers, which included social media outbursts, a trade request, and an unusual “hold in,” Brandon Aiyuk’s first choice was always to stay in San Francisco.
The 49ers also wanted to keep their star receiver, so why did it take so long for Aiyuk to sign a new deal last Thursday?
“I’m not going to lie, I made it a little bit more difficult than I needed to at the end,” Aiyuk said Tuesday after his first practice with the Niners since the Super Bowl.
This fact is clear, but it’s not important now since the sides have agreed on a four-year, $120 million contract extension with $76 million guaranteed.
Aiyuk wasn’t sure if this would be the final result. There were trade offers from Cleveland and New England that fell through because he wouldn’t agree to an extension with those teams. Discussions with Pittsburgh also ended when the Steelers wouldn’t offer enough to convince the Niners to trade Aiyuk.
The dispute ended with the most reasonable outcome: Aiyuk staying in San Francisco, where he could play with quarterback Brock Purdy in an offense led by coach Kyle Shanahan and receive the lucrative contract he wanted.
“I just had a feel for what I wanted, not just in terms of money, but in all those things,” Aiyuk said. “I wanted to be here, and I ended up being here. So I’m happy and ready to go.”
Eleven receivers before Aiyuk had already signed contracts worth at least $70 million this offseason, with Justin Jefferson’s four-year, $140 million extension with Minnesota being the highest. Aiyuk is now the sixth receiver with an average annual contract of at least $30 million.
Aiyuk had the option to play this season on the fifth-year option worth about $14.1 million and then move to free agency next offseason. However, he wanted to speed up the process and finalize the deal now, even if it meant being a “squeaky wheel.”
“A squeaky wheel has to be silent sometimes but know when to squeak,” he said. “Just that balance.”
Aiyuk admitted the process was challenging, especially since he did a “hold-in” throughout training camp. He showed up to the team on time in late July to avoid fines and participated in meetings, but did not practice.
He was seen on the practice field as an observer, occasionally greeting and hugging coach Kyle Shanahan and general manager John Lynch. But he wasn’t fully involved with the team.
“It was tough,” he said. “That was probably the hardest part about the whole thing, just because, at that point, you’ve got the rest of the team involved. I’m here every single day. They’re suiting up, getting ready to go out to practice, and I’m not.
So that was the hard part. But on that same tone, I was able to be in meetings, and be able to go through all the stuff that they got to go through, and kind of still be involved. … So it was a little awkward, but I think it worked out how it needed to.”
Aiyuk was a key player for San Francisco’s offense last season, forming a strong connection with Purdy. He had 75 catches and a career-high 1,375 yards, along with seven touchdowns, and received second-team All-Pro honors.
Purdy’s 120.5 passer rating when targeting Aiyuk is the highest for any QB-receiver pair with at least 125 attempts over the past two seasons.
