The de facto deadline for a Brandon Aiyuk trade came and went without so much as a whisper that a deal was imminent for the San Francisco 49ers. That deadline didn't stop Fox Sports from identifying Aiyuk as the player the 49ers could trade around the NFL draft.
General manager John Lynch opened the floodgates on a potential Aiyuk trade in the 2025 offseason when he said the club was open to trading anyone. In the midst of a roster purge and a financial reset, trading the expensive, injured wide receiver after a lackluster seven games pre-injury last season made some sense.
That the 49ers would get anything of value for a former All-Pro who is still in the thick of rehabbing from a knee injury that included a torn ACL seemed unlikely. The chances he was traded diminished even further on April 1 when his option kicked in and jacked up the cost for San Francisco to trade the receiver.
Fox Sports' Ralph Vacchiano identified some of the risks of a team acquiring Aiyuk, but never acknowledged just how much the 49ers would be paying in the process.
Via Fox Sports:
The 49ers already traded Deebo Samuel and just paid Aiyuk a $22.8 million bonus, so at this point a trade is pretty unlikely. But it's not impossible, and it won't stop teams from calling, especially as the 49ers act more like a rebuilding team than one trying to contend. He comes with risk as he rehabs from a torn ACL, but he might be worth it considering he averaged 78 catches for 1,179 yards the two previous seasons. The 27-year-old is in the first year of a four-year, $120 million extension, but there's only $29 million left in guaranteed money.
"Never say never" is an important phrase when discussing NFL transactions. Anything can happen. However, we'd push back on the notion the 49ers are acting "more like a rebuilding team than one trying to contend." It's true they may not have maximized their window in 2025, but they did so in hopes of setting themselves up for more long-term financial stability as they try and open a new Super Bowl window. Aiyuk is ideally part of the next core of players that brings San Francisco back into championship contention.
Even if the 49ers did move him, it would cost them $37,924,124 against the cap − a whopping $28,007,019 more than his current cap charge for 2025. Adding that $28-plus million would bring their dead cap total to $117,031,688 this season, which is 41.9 percent of the salary cap.
It's not a disqualifying dead cap hit, but it's close even before we consider that the 49ers are still unlikely to get anything near market value for Aiyuk at this point. There's no timetable for his return and any team acquiring him would likely be hoping to do so on the cheap. The 49ers would likely only be looking to trade him for an overpay.
The dots didn't connect before Aiyuk's option kicked in. They're even further apart now. Never say never, but an Aiyuk trade seems to be all but off the table.
This article originally appeared on Niners Wire: Fox Sports still trying to find way for 49ers to trade Brandon Aiyuk
