The Brandon Aiyuk Coverage Is Really Something

Brandon Aiyuk is still a Niner. But that could change.

49ers wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk catches the ball over Lions cornerback Kindle Vildor in the third quarter of the NFC championship game at Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, California, on Sunday, Jan. 28, 2024. / Junfu Han / USA TODAY NETWORK

Brandon Aiyuk became a member of the San Francisco 49ers organization when they drafted him 25th overall in 2020. He made an immediate impact in his rookie year and has progressed in each one of his four seasons, culminating in an NFC Championship game-changing catch and All-Pro honors in 2023. His skill manages to stand out on an extremely stacked Niners offense and, like every other professional player, he's interested in maximizing his earning potential on that production. And it's looking like that will come some place outside of the Bay Area as several teams have entered what has become a deep pool of trade rumors. Aiyuk, as of press time, remains a member of the San Francisco 49ers.

When resolution comes on this situation it will put a capstone on a week of breathless coverage of behind-the-scenes maneuvering. Respected NFL insiders will be vindicated and lesser-known X personalities will be embarrassed. Or perhaps the other way around. Who knows?

Because the public knows more than it could ever want to know about a bunch of trades that will not end up happening. And how the primaries are responding to the latests drips and drabs. The Aiyuk situation is far from the most consequential NFL storyline a month out from meaningful games yet it has become the main character. More than that—and perhaps this is just a personal thing—it's crystalized once again just how much media coverage of America's most popular time has changed in just a few short years.

Forgive me for asking you to step off my lawn while I fire off my take but it really wasn't not too long ago that if an impact player got traded they would put that trade in the newspaper when it happened and that would be it. It was different and it's up to you to decide if it was better.

For a thought experiment, though, ask yourself how much of the Aiyuk saga is going to matter once someone makes a deal for him. Consider just a small slice of the tick-tock that has dominated every site covering the league in recent days, including Sports Illustrated.

• Mike Tomlin Didn’t Deny the Steelers Are Trying to Trade for Brandon Aiyuk
• Christian McCaffrey Mistakenly Calls Brandon Aiyuk 'Former Teammate' Amid Rumors
• Brandon Aiyuk Could Miss Out on 49ers’ Super Bowl Window
• Kyle Shanahan Offers Update on Brandon Aiyuk Trade Amid Recent Reports
• New Brandon Aiyuk Trade Report Hints 49ers Could Move Star WR Soon

We live in the golden age of information. That golden age, however, can place a tremendous burden on casual fans just trying to understand. In an impossibly crowded world, keeping up with every twist and turn surrounding what could happen but hasn't happened yet to a player that isn't a household name despite his prowess has been added to the plate.

Again, to stress this point: it's not a bad thing. So many people like this. And so many fans would have crawled over glass to have this type of access and insight years ago before it had a place to live. It's just kind of jarring to be someone old enough to remember that things used to begin when an actual transaction had been made. There's a type of frog-boiling-in-water vibe to the whole thing where things change so methodically over time that it slips under the radar until the league's seventh- or eighth-best receiver is thrust into the center of the ecosystem.

Some folks need to know literally everything until there is a trade. Others don't want to know a single thing until that happens. Those camps are largely defined by age as a good portion of the public can't remember a different time. And neither are necessarily wrong as long as they don't feel like they're missing out—or don't feel like they're overly burdened to keep up with the absolute latest.