Not the highest paid…but definitely up there.
As the Brandon Aiyuk/San Francisco 49ers contract negotiations head into summer, we have a contract benchline to look at. Per ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler, Brandon Aiyuk is looking into a recent extension the Detroit Lions made with their wide receiver:
“They [49ers and Aiyuk] have been talking, they’ve been negotiating. Nothing immenient as of yet, but there’s certainly a chance. I was told the benchmark here is Amon-Ra St. Brown, because he got $28 million dollars a year on a four-year deal from Detroit. The goal is, it appears, for Aiyuk to try to beat that. He doesn’t need to have to be the highest paid in the league, but he’s done enough and accomplished enough in that offense where he’s probably going to have to be at that number or higher.”
Brandon Aiyuk doesn’t have to be the highest paid receiver…just the second highest. If you check wide receiver numbers on OvertheCap, you’ll see St. Brown is second in just about every category behind Oakland Raiders receiver Davante Adams (total value), Philadelphia Eagles receiver A.J. Brown (average per year and total guarantees). The one category he’s not is in the fully guaranteed money which has ranked 12th.
A lot of contracts are all about the guarantees, so there’s wiggle room over that fully guaranteed money. He won’t need to have Tyreek Hill numbers, but that’s still a sizable chunk of change. By comparison, Deebo Samuel’s contract pays $23 million (full contract, not 2024 salary).
Brandon Aiyuk isn’t the first 49ers player to go into the summer to get the deal done. Nor is he the first where reports indicate things aren’t going so well. As far as the benchmark, there’s no argument he’s worth more than that to make the offense operate. His one-two punch with Deebo Samuel makes the 49ers lethal. He also is one of Brock Purdy’s favorite targets.
The 49ers plan on playing Aiyuk on his fifth year option and still have a few months before the start of the season before everyone can worry. Remember, Nick Bosa signed his extension in September.
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