The Chiefs lost WR Marquise Brown to injury before the 2024 season even started, and they may be without top wideout Rashee Rice for the rest of the year as well. The club could therefore be inclined to acquire a receiver prior to the November 5 trade deadline, and the Browns’ Amari Cooper was recently floated as a possibility for the defending Super Bowl champions.
However, Mary Kay Cabot of Cleveland.com says the Browns are not going to trade Cooper, either to Kansas City or to any other club. Cleveland’s 1-4 start to the season and the struggles of quarterback Deshaun Watson have led to speculation that the team could be a deadline seller, and since Cooper is a pending free agent, he profiles as a logical trade candidate.
That is especially true given Cooper’s slow start to the 2024 campaign; through four games, Cooper compiled just 16 catches for 148 yards and two scores, and both of his touchdowns and over half of his yardage came in a Week 3 loss to the Giants. That said, Watson is still heavily targeting Cooper, who had what would have been an 82-yard touchdown nullified by a questionable holding penalty in the Browns’ Week 4 loss to the Raiders. The five-time Pro Bowler has been targeted 37 times, and the Browns continue to hope that such volume will eventually translate to the high-end production that Cooper is capable of.
Plus, the Browns and Cooper agreed to a July restructure that saw most of the player’s base salary converted into a signing bonus and two void years added to his deal for cap purposes, and Cabot says there is “no way” Cleveland will absorb the dead money charge that a trade would create. Any trade partner would have to take on some of the bonus money that is still owed to Cooper, and at this point in the calendar, when many teams have limited cap space, that could prove to be a challenge.
Even if the Browns turn their season around to the point that they become deadline buyers, Cabot does not expect them to be in the market for some of the names that have popped up in early trade rumors, such as Davante Adams and DeAndre Hopkins. Although Cleveland was reportedly willing to trade Cooper for the 26-year-old Brandon Aiyuk this offseason, the team is not believed to be anxious to acquire a high-priced, thirty-something wideout.
Cooper, who is naturally anxious to capitalize on the exploding receiver market in the upcoming offseason, has been practicing with “renewed intensity” over the past several weeks, according to Cabot.
I wonder if Browns are still open to the Aiyuk trade. Dude has looked horrible since the extension.
Emergence of Jennings. Deebo. 1st round pick on Pearsall. 49ers should look to unload Aiyuks contract.
Pretty sure looking at the complete dumpster fire the brownies are, they are not gonna be buyers at the trade deadline. (Aka they are gonna need those draft picks….and someone to take the worst contract ever given in the history of the franchise)
Apparently the Niners paid Aiyuk to just breathe
Why would they give him all the guaranteed money to trade him away? Kittle and or Deebo are probably gone anyway and he’s over 100 yards already in this game. Stay away from the comment section, golly.
Why would you trade an overpaid receiver to someone who may still be willing to take it off your hands who’s producing against the cardinals, get out of a bad contract, and put the money elsewhere? Your first time watching football there Johnny superscout? I remember when I first started watching football.
Deeming a huge contract a disaster after four games is ridiculous.
The minute he signed the contract he was overpaid from the get go. Esp when you drafted his replacement in the first round.
You’re telling me you think aiyuk is worth 30 mill a year? Lmao
Yes. In a league where St. Brown is making 30 and AJ Brown is making 32, I think 30 is about right for Aiyuk.
Comparing aiyuk to Aj brown and Amon Ra St Brown is even crazier than thinking Aiyuk is worth 30 mill lmao
It’s not crazy. Saying lmao after your own sentences doesn’t make you more convincing.
It’s completely crazy. The lmao is emphasizing just how silly of a take those two things are. Completely silly to think he’s worth 30 mill and comparable to Brown and St. Brown.
Considering he signed after those guys and Jefferson, his price tag was going to go up a little. He was seventh in the league in receiving yards despite playing in the lowest volume passing attack in the league with multiple other star weapons. And by all charting, he gets open more reliably than almost anyone in the league.
Up a little, not make him a top 5 paid wr which he isn’t. Overpaying him is overpaying him no matter how you slice it.
Low volume passing attack, still saw 25% of targets at 105 opportunities. So opportunities were there for him. And playing along side healthy kittle and healthy deebo also created opportunities for people and McCaffrey. That’s not worth 30 mill when you need healthy people to create 1 on 1 opportunities for you. Thats what makes the brown and st brown comparison silly. They don’t need other all pros to rely on as much as aiyuk relies on Samuel and kittle and McCaffrey.
Gets open more. In 2023 he had an average separation of 2.07 yards which was 140th in the league.
How many receivers in the league are better than him, eligible for extensions, and not much older than him? It’s a very small number. Chase will be ahead of him before long.
He was 36th in targets last year, so not that many opportunities for someone who finished 7th in yards.
And I don’t know where you got that separation number, but it’s low and incorrect.
Just because he’s eligible for an extension doesn’t mean you overpay him lmao.
5th year option
Franchise tag
36th in targets is a lot of targets esp for a self described low volume passing attack per your own words. 4th least pass attempts in the league and he finishes 36th.
“I can’t disprove your facts but they’re wrong” yeah sorry chief. It’s accurate. Google is free. Literally googled Brandon aiyuk separation 2023 and this is what popped up lmao.
“ Brandon Aiyuk, a wide receiver for the San Francisco 49ers, has had an average separation of 2.07 yards when targeted by defenders in 2023, which is 140th in the league. This is lower than his previous average target separation of 2.84 yards per season.”
He’s the X receiver that makes the Shanahan offense run. I said eligible extension because I was talking about *other* receivers. Who are all these receivers you think are worth more money and are eligible to get it?
NextGen stats has him at 2.9.
And again, I’m saying that being 36th in the league in targets makes it extra impressive that he finished 7th in yards and speaks to what an efficient weapon he is.
Funny you mention “eligible” just because he’s eligible to be overpaid doesn’t mean you overpay him. 49ers made a poor decision to overpay him.
2.07 stands which was 140th in the league.
When you account for 25% of your teams passing attempts you’re gonna rack up numbers. That’s a no brainer. When you can get single coverage because teams have to cover all pros in Samuel Kittle and McCaffrey it does help you increase your yard target depth from 9.8 to 13.7 or something. Doesn’t mean you’re worth 30 mill or on the same level as Brown or St Brown in terms of ability level. Means you fit the offense. Jennings also fits the offense and came out significantly cheaper.
30 mill was and is crazy for aiyuk.
He wasn’t going to suit up without an extension and he’s their most valuable offensive weapon. They should have saved money by locking him up earlier, but they didn’t. I said eligible, because ONCE AGAIN, I’m asking you who all these receivers are that you think are worth more money. I also still don’t know how to convey that 25% of a team’s targets is still only 36th in the league in targets if it’s 36th in the league in targets.
Idk why but this got posted below. Couple replies haven’t been posted correctly.
There is no most valuable weapon because shanahans offense doesn’t rely on just one or two guys. One week it could be aiyuk next kittle next samuel. There’s really no most valuable.
But in terms of what they bring mcaffreys ability to run block and catch and kittle ability as a catcher and as a blocker bring more value than aiyuk. Samuel being able to be placed wherever even the backfield as a runner also has more value.
Whos better than aiyuk? When healthy in no particular order based on talent and skill set alone
Justin Jefferson
Cooper Kupp
CeeDee Lamb
Jamarr Chase
Aj Brown
Amon Ra St Brown
Mike Evans
Dj Moore
Aiyuk is in the 2nd tier with Waddle Smith Samuel G Wilson probably forgetting a few guys in this tier but going off top of my head.
OK, so you scoffed at the idea of him being a top five paid receiver, then when asked to name players worth more, you came up with a list of eight guys. A pretty good list. Evans and Kupp are both 31, so they just aren’t as valuable on a contract starting now (and with his injuries, Kupp is no longer in that tier). Chase has one year less service time and hasn’t gotten his contract yet, but will 100% get more money than Aiyuk. So even you think he’s close. And he got a tiny amount more than St. Brown, which he probably wouldn’t have if the 49ers had just taken care of business earlier. The Moore contract looks great, in part because they signed it before several of these other deals, in part because he was suppressed by godawful offenses and QB play.
And no, Deebo’s versatility does not make him more valuable, especially with his injury trouble. Waddle and Smith have never had to be the number one target and Garrett Wilson isn’t there yet (including not being eligible for an extension yet).
Anyway, that’s more than enough of this back and forth.
Theres 8 guys who are elite. Aiyuk isn’t elite. Hence why he’s not worth elite money. Pretty simple concept.
“ When healthy in no particular order based on talent and skill set alone” reading comprehension is important
When healthy deebo samuel is far more important to the offense than aiyuk is.
“lmao”
Can’t dispute anything I said love it lmao
Buddy, you didn’t even acknowledge some of the things I’ve said. I couldn’t even get you to acknowledge that 36 is a far cry from 7. You can’t even put your replies in the right places. And all of this is ultimately about your idea that they should dump him four games after giving him the contract, which remains silly. You can keep disagreeing by yourself. I’ve had my fill. Have a good one.
I’ve responded to everything you’ve said.
Some of it was pointless like him being extension eligible as if that matters when you have 5th year option and franchise tag. Plus just cause someone is eligible doesn’t mean you should over pay.
You say they’re not pass heavy which just confirms paying a guy like aiyuk 30 mill doesn’t make much sense.
You ignore his stats being a result of players he plays around and ignore 49ers have cheaper options in Jennings and pearsall so overpaying aiyuk 30 mill doesn’t make sense.
He’s not worth 30 mill.
Stats are very relative in the NFL. Aiyuk no doubt benefited from having CMC, Kittle, and Deebo on the offense. Not saying he’s a bad WR, he’s a good one. But is he worth $30M on THAT team? No. SF could pick up a $15M WR and get decent results. Is Aiyuk in the same league as Jefferson, St. Ra? Nope. Put him on half the other teams in the league and his stats will tank.
Exactly. Aiyuk is a good player
Great # 2 , Decent # 1 but not elite by any means.
He’s not worth top 5 money. Id argue his value is closer to 20-23 than it is 30. But over paying him top dollar was insane.
Mary Kay knows all, sees all……and is wrong most of the time.
You aren’t at all wrong. My mom lives in the Cleveland area and there are some very good sports writers and pundits there (Pluto and Hoynes for sure) but Mary Kay is not one of them. She sure thinks she is, though.
It breaks my heart when I discover a journalist’s credentials are just cosmetic 🙂
There is no most valuable weapon because shanahans offense doesn’t rely on just one or two guys. One week it could be aiyuk next kittle next samuel. There’s really no most valuable.
But in terms of what they bring mcaffreys ability to run block and catch and kittle ability as a catcher and as a blocker bring more value than aiyuk. Samuel being able to be placed wherever even the backfield as a runner also has more value.
Whos better than aiyuk? When healthy in no particular order based on talent and skill set alone
Justin Jefferson
Cooper Kupp
CeeDee Lamb
Jamarr Chase
Aj Brown
Amon Ra St Brown
Mike Evans
Dj Moore
Aiyuk is in the 2nd tier with Waddle Smith Samuel G Wilson probably forgetting a few guys in this tier but going off top of my head.
Browns continue to do Browns things.
They should trade every single player on their roster and just surround Watson with UDFA’s until his contract is done
It already has precedence in the same city. The 1988 Cleveland Indians tried to tank in order to execute an attendance escape clause and move the team to Miami.
Translation: the Browns are working to raise the trade package for Amari Cooper
Yes, but that $chitt doesn’t work. I remember real estate agents (and owners) jumping up and down trying to convince me that they weren’t budging a nickel. It never worked.
Hmmmmm mind games maybe??
Old Joe Flacco won with this group (even without having the benefit of Chubb being around), thus it is obvious where the problem lies.
Watson does not even look like he wants to be out there – pretty uninspired body language