The 49ers’ Brandon Aiyuk saga brought countless rumors last summer. The what-ifs involved a host of teams and other wideouts — Amari Cooper, Justin Jefferson and Courtland Sutton among them — as San Francisco ultimately stayed the course with a player who snared second-team All-Pro acclaim last season.
Aiyuk talks with the Steelers became the 49ers’ top contingency plan, as the Browns and Patriots also made aggressive trade and extension offers. Given permission to explore trade avenues, Aiyuk was not interested in a deal to Cleveland or New England. And he eventually nixed a Pittsburgh path, signing a four-year, $120MM San Francisco extension. That deal soon became even more important for Aiyuk, who suffered a torn ACL that ended what had already been a disappointing season.
Throughout the process, the Commanders loomed as a stealth destination — dating back to Aiyuk suggesting the fit in June. It later came out that Aiyuk would have indeed been interested in being moved to Washington to team up with Jayden Daniels, Aiyuk’s teammate in 2019 with Arizona State. The Commanders were not believed to have been overly interested, despite an apparent need for a player to complement Terry McLaurin. New information sheds some light on why Washington did not dive into the Aiyuk sweepstakes.
The 49ers would have been open to appeasing Aiyuk by dealing him to the Commanders had the NFC East team included McLaurin in the deal, The Athletic’s Matt Barrows notes (subscription required). Unlike the Browns, the Commanders were not offering their No. 1 target for Aiyuk. Incongruous plans presumably doomed a 49ers-Commanders swap this summer.
It would have stood to reason the Commanders would have wanted Aiyuk to play alongside McLaurin, as the Steelers did by eyeing an Aiyuk-George Pickens combo. Rather than offer Pickens to the 49ers in an Aiyuk package, the Steelers offered picks and eventually agreed to trade parameters. That opens the door to Washington potentially being able to have done the same, but reports did not have the NFC East club nearly as far down the road on a trade this summer.
Cleveland offered Cooper, along with second- and fifth-round picks, to San Francisco for Aiyuk, who would have paired with Jerry Jeudy. The Patriots discussed Kendrick Bourne with the 49ers. McLaurin, however, appeared to represent a bridge too far; moving their perennial leading receiver for Aiyuk would have not stood to produce much of a gain for the Commanders.
At 29, McLaurin is three years older than Aiyuk. But he had already been working with Daniels for months by the time serious Aiyuk trade talks commenced. The former third-round pick is having his best season, averaging a career-high 63.3 receiving yards per game.
McLaurin, who has only missed three career games, now has five 1,000-yard seasons, having crossed that barrier most recently in Week 16. His contract, one that helped shape the 49ers’ Deebo Samuel extension, runs through 2025. The Commanders will need to navigate extension talks soon, but they appear quite happy with McLaurin, whose third contract would complement Daniels’ rookie deal.
McLaurin has outplayed Samuel by a significant margin this season and would stand to have more 2025 trade value, but no indications have surfaced Washington plans to seriously entertain a move. Aiyuk’s 49ers deal runs through 2028.
I thought this was known already.
It actually would have been a good deal. Washington would have been the only party to lose anything, as they would have dealt a sure thing in McLaurin for a not as sure thing in Aiyuk (in the sense that McLaurin has produced already for Washington and that Aiyuk had not). The advantage, though, is in the three year difference-by the time Daniels’ rookie deal is up, McLaurin will be 33 or 34. That would be the only advantage for Washington.
McLaurin seems like a perfect fit in San Fran, better than Cooper or Sutton (I’m not saying that he’s a better receiver in an absolute sense, just that he seems like a better fit schematically) would have been. San Fran is built for now, and they need a player for a couple of years with Pearsall in the wings and Samuel getting hurt. Aiyuk would have been happy to accept that deal, unlike his rejection of the Browns and Patriots (and eventual flip flop with the Steelers) and Daniels would have had familiarity with his new number one.
I understand, though, why Washington would be reluctant to do something that they didn’t have to do to give up their sure thing for a gamble. This would have been a great deal for the 9ers on their end, but only possibly a good deal for Washington. It would have been dependent on Aiyuk living up to expectations, which sounds obvious, but there’s more risk there. If Aiyuk worked out better in Washington, then they also would have gotten a player three years younger. It could have been good for them after all, as well.
No way that would been a good deal terry better than Brandon.
It was, this site even covered the trade between the teams multiple times. They just never acknowledged this exact trade.
In Adam Peter’s we trust.