The San Francisco 49ers have long since maintained that their goal is to sign Brandon Aiyuk to a long-term extension, even as trade speculation has continually swirled around their All-Pro receiver.
Their resolve was seemingly tested over the course of the 2024 NFL Draft but they stuck to their guns, with the focus now returning to negotiations with Aiyuk..
San Francisco will be expected to get its desired outcome now the draft has passed, as it is highly unlikely the the 49ers trade Aiyuk for 2025 draft capital ahead of the final cheap year of quarterback Brock Purdy's contract. However, there remains the possibility that, if the two sides can't come to terms on a deal, Aiyuk could play on his fifth-year option.
Aiyuk is due to be paid a base salary of $14.1 million in 2024, counting for 4.8 percent of the 49ers' cap.
Niners general manager John Lynch has previously said the team are comfortable with Aiyuk playing on that fifty-year option.
In fairness to Lynch, that is an understandable stance when you look at the numbers in isolation. A $14.1 million cap hit is a cheap one for a receiver of Aiyuk's caliber coming off successive 1,000-yard seasons.
But the wider context is what is important for the 49ers.
San Francisco's current combined cap hit for all the wide receivers it has on the roster is $55 million, the highest in the NFL.
That obviously will go down slightly when the roster is trimmed to 53 players, but the primary route the 49ers have to reducing that number is through an Aiyuk extension.
Signing Aiyuk to a long-term deal would allow the 49ers to essentially scrap his fifth-year option and pay him a much lower-base salary while giving him a significant amount of up front money in a signing bonus that pro-rates across the life of his contract. That is how the 49ers have typically operated, backloading deals with the more substantial cap hits coming towards the end of the contract.
And in Purdy's final cheap year, any space they can free up against the cap for in-season all-in moves akin to last year's trade deadline move for Chase Young would be critical.
The 49ers can keep Aiyuk around by letting him play on the option and then franchise-tagging him next offseason, but it makes much more financial sense in the immediate future and in the long term to sign him to a deal that lowers his 2024 cap hit, setting San Francisco up to again push its chips to the middle this year while securing the future of Purdy's favorite target for the long term.
In public, Lynch and the 49ers may express calm about the prospect of Aiyuk playing on the option. Behind closed doors, however, they'll know that is far from a desirable outcome in the final season before keeping all their stars together becomes extremely difficult.
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