There are only 24 days remaining between now and the San Francisco 49ers' Week 1 showdown on "Monday Night Football" with Aaron Rodgers and the New York Jets.
Yet, 49ers top wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk, who led the defending NFC champions in catches (75), receiving yards (1,342) and co-led the team in receiving touchdowns (seven), is still not practicing with the team because he lacks a long-term contract. The 26-year-old is currently set to enter the 2024 season in the final year of his rookie deal on his fifth-year, fully guaranteed option worth $14.1 million.
As a result, he demanded a trade to create leverage for himself in negotiations with general manager John Lynch and the 49ers front office. That demand has reportedly resulted in San Francisco setting up a deal to trade him to the Pittsburgh Steelers if the two sides cannot come together on a new deal.
Lynch, unlike Cowboys owner and general manger Jerry Jones in regards to his top wide receiver CeeDee Lamb's similar demands, admitted on Friday that he is now feeling "urgency" to get Aiyuk's situation resolved.
"You know, I'm not going to characterize any chances or anything," Lynch said on KNBR on Friday when asked about the chances that he stays with the 49ers long term. "I can tell you this, it's been a long, arduous, hard process, a hard journey. We started this early and for whatever reason haven't been able to get it across the finish line. That's been frustrating, but the communication still has been really good both with Brandon and his agent, and we're trying to figure out solutions. You know I'm always hopeful. I'm an optimistic person in nature, and I'm always hopeful that we'll get there and get there soon. I can tell you, we feel the urgency to have him, the season's approaching, and we have ample time."
Aiyuk's 1,342 receiving yards ranked as the seventh-most in the NFL in 2023, and he joined the wide receiver G.O.A.T Jerry Rice as the only players in 49ers history with at least seven games with 100 or more receiving yards in a season. Despite last season's production, Lynch is itching to get Aiyuk signed and back on the practice field.
"The good news is Brandon is a really, really hard worker, he's taking great care of himself this offseason, he's in fantastic shape, but there's things you have to do on a football field and getting yourself in there with our team," Lynch said. "So we're working hard, and hopefully there's a resolution soon. That's all I can share with everyone, I understand the angst of everyone, I understand there's been all kinds of stories and talk, that's what people do these days. I don't like that part of it, but we love BA as a player, I think you see it every time he goes out there representing the Niners, he's a guy we traded up for in the first round back in the '20 draft, I remember doing it from my guest house during the covid times, and we're fortunate to have added him to our squad, and we'd really like to keep him around. So we'll see how it goes."
He caught 14 of the 20 passes thrown to him both outside the numbers and that traveled 15+ air yards last season, the best rate (70%) of any player in the last four seasons, minimum 20 targets in a season. Aiyuk averaged 3.1 yards per route run overall in 2023, the third-best rate in the NFL behind only Tyreek Hill and Nico Collins, among those who ran at least 400 routes. A whopping 81.3% of Aiyuk's 75 catches last year resulted in either a first down or a touchdown last season, the best such rate in the entire NFL. Losing that type of deep threat down and receiving efficiency would be a huge blow for San Francisco. That's why Lynch is desperately trying to figure out the snag in the negotiations and working to avoid any hard feelings during the process.
"I wish I knew, I wish I knew," Lynch said when asked why the process is dragging out the way it is. "As I said, we started early, and it's consumed a lot of our time, my time. I don't like that it's taken this long, but it has, and you deal with the challenges that you're faced with. ... No, there's not bad blood. I mean, negotiations can get heated. I think it's his first time going through that, but no bad blood. I mean people that are here see Brandon out here, there's a lot of love and respect for the relationship we've had and continue to have and hopefully will have into the future."
Despite the stress of the negotiations, Lynch would rather be in the process of working toward a contract for a star player than not needing to at all.
"You know one thing [other NFL general managers] always say is 'Man, we'd love to have your problems," Lynch said. "You've got a lot of great players there.' And I think that's kudos to our entire organization."
Only time will tell if Lynch can resolve his latest champagne problems with Aiyuk and All-Pro left tackle Trent Williams holding out like he did with both wide receiver Deebo Samuel and edge rusher Nick Bosa, both of whom ended up signing multiyear extensions to remain in the Bay Area.
